Scarlet Sky
by greenteamoose
Summary: COMPLETE. As the jinchuuriki of the rokubi, she hated and feared Akatsuki, whose attempt at capturing her led to her defection from Suna. Four years later, she faced the same scarlet eyes and became entangled in a web of fate. /ItachixOC
1. Rain

**Chapter 1: Rain**

* * *

It was a typical day in Amegakure, the Village Hidden in Rain. Drizzles and drizzles of rain sprinkled down from the moisture-laden clouds in the sky above to the drenched land below. As the villagers ignored the typical rain and carried on with their typical businesses, two tall figures made their way slowly through the rows of rainproof huts. Their faces were veiled by the white strips fluttering down from their flat cone hats. They were attired in long black overcoats decorated with red clouds. And their fingernails were painted a dark shade of violet (a strange little detail one must never leave out). The run-of-the mill villager would not have ever known that they were two members of an organization known as Akatsuki, partially because every villager was wearing similar cone hats and partially because the typical villager was ignorant of many events outside the Amegakure bubble.

Eventually the two Akatsuki-nin reached a stream, nearly bulging with rushing water, on the outskirts of Amegakure. Murky water slapped wildly against the muddy banks, and raindrops pricked the slightly flooded ground like falling pebbles. In the course of this typical day, a third figure, this time carrying a bamboo umbrella to mask the face, approached the Akatsuki-nin. The threesome stopped short of approaching each other too closely. A silence, save for the rain, ensued this tense encounter.

"It's been a while, Toriya-chan," the shorter of the two Akatsuki-nin finally spoke, addressing the third figure.

"Fancy meeting the two of you here… Itachi… Kisame," she responded evenly. Her simple attire was a white outfit, similar to that of a martial artist, with a light blue emblem in the shape of a single bird's wing (symbolizing the Mizuiro clan) impressed on the collar. Iron braces covered her arms and legs, and her muddy sandals held indications of long hours of beating against the rigid earth. A left hand was holding the umbrella, while the other gloved hand held a large mahogany-brown hawk. This kunoichi oppressed all signs of her current status and maintained hints of politeness masked by sarcasm in her voice. "Whatever brings you to Amegakure?"

The taller of the pair, the one named Kisame and who was carrying a large bandaged sword on his back, grinned and showed his white, triangular teeth.

"Keh," he sneered, "we should be the ones asking you why you're here of all places. Why are you alone?"

"I'm in training," Toriya replied shortly, "and I'm not alone. This here is Tsumemaru-sama."

She looked pointedly at the hawk on her right hand.

Itachi glanced indifferently at the raptor. The rainwater trickled down his hat and further obscured his face, but Toriya's sharp eyes, a warm chestnut shade, could see his red Sharingan ones.

"Isn't that hawk lord who saved you from us last time?" Itachi said lazily.

_Last time_… Toriya closed her eyes and thought back to that day four years ago…

_-Flashback: four years ago-_

It was a regular mission assigned to her squad by Sunagakure of the Land of Wind. She and her teammates, Kon and Kai, had it easy, since their village was still struggling to keep its scrambled affairs in line subsequent to the ill-fated invasion of Konoha. Even though the barren landscape of Suna had prodded the creation of a greenhouse, there were still many herbs that the village lacked to quickly heal the injured shinobi. Baki had ordered Toriya and her teammates to simply retrieve some medicinal herbs from Kusagakure, which was extremely rich with various plants indigenous only in the Land of Grass.

"Well, that was a piece of cake," Kon complained as they left Kusagakure. He habitually brushed back his short dark green hair and casually adjusted his Suna head protector. "Why didn't Baki-sensei give us a harder mission?"

"You're one to talk, idiot," retorted Kai. "Who's always the one to run away when there's a battle? No wonder we always get easy missions."

Kon reddened at this. "Wha-," he spluttered, "where the hell did that come from? You're always arrogant and boasting about your skills, but you never display any of your so-called genius techniques!"

"You want to see them?" growled Kai, his gray eyes flashing. His brown hair (spiked up by gel or some mystical force), only dramatized his towering height over Kon's short stature.

"Yeah! Bring it on!!"

"Shut up, you two," Toriya said coldly from behind them. Her light brown hair, matching the color of her eyes, was tied into a high ponytail.

The two boys glared at each other a bit longer before continuing down the path. Ever since they left the protective folds of Kusagakure, Toriya had begun to sense an unfriendly presence in the vicinity. The feeling only increased as the surrounding grass began to thicken and enormous plants loomed on both sides of the tattered path (one was thrice the height of Kai, including his spiked hair). It was apparent by Kai and Kon's usual (freaking annoying, Toriya thought) banter that they had not sensed anything out of the ordinary.

Still feeling uneasy, Toriya made some hand seals and focused her released chakra toward a nearby sparrow. One moment later, she saw what the bird was seeing in her mind and began controlling the movements of the sparrow. The Bird's Eye Jutsu was a technique that the Mizuiro clan (her clan, of which she was one of the two remaining survivors after rogue shinobi had flattened it) had developed and used because it was extremely helpful for spying missions. In this case, Toriya was searching for the large source of chakra. No… she frowned. It was two shinobi, clothed in long black overcoats with strange red patterns. They were about five yards away behind three birch trees. One of them looked up and stared right into the sparrow's eyes. In a flash of black metal, there was a spurt of blood, and the sparrow fell into darkness.

Crap.

"Kon, Kai! Get away!" Toriya yelled.

A moment later, a flood of water suddenly crashed through the vegetation and knocked the three genin off their feet. Toriya used a kunai to break into the trunk of a tree and steady herself, wondering in the midst of the cold rushing liquid where all the water had come from. Kon and Kai were not so lucky, and they were swept away by the current. Then just as suddenly, a gruff voice broke into her thoughts.

"So you are the jinchuuriki of the six-tails."

* * *

**A/N**: The plot gets better in future (longer, hopefully) chapters :)

**Disclaimer**: Itachi, Kisame, and all _Naruto_ villages/lands belong to Masashi Kishimoto. Toriya, Kon, Kai, and other random OCs belong to me.


	2. Pain of the Past

**Chapter 2: Pain of the Past**

* * *

-- _Continue flashback_ --

She froze. How did they know she was a jinchuuriki? She looked up and saw the same two black-nin. The one with a shark-like face was the one who had spoken.

"Who are you?" Toriya demanded in a calm, low voice. This was a quality that differentiated her from her two hot-headed teammates, who were now nowhere to be seen. She glared in the face of danger and processed her thoughts methodically. Scanning her eyes across the landscape, she quickly noted the suitable trees for landing and the perfect places for hiding. In the meantime, she began to reach for some shuriken in her bag.

"Kukuku... I am Hoshigaki Kisame of Akatsuki. Pleased to make your acquaintance. And my partner here is-"

"Uchiha Itachi, is it?," Toriya interrupted, glancing at the black-haired shinobi with Sharingan eyes. "You look like Sasuke-kun." The tale of the Uchiha slaughter was well known in her clan, which had been wiped out just as quickly. She had also seen Sasuke during the Chuunin exams in Konoha a few months back, and the resemblance between the two Uchiha brothers was striking. "And what do you two plan to do with me?"

Itachi continued his icy stare without saying anything, while Kisame chuckled his shark chuckle.

"We're going to extract the six-tails from you."

"Come again?"

"Akatsuki is going to gain control of the immense power of this demon."

"…Interesting. Let's see if you can."

Without warning, she let loose no fewer than three shuriken. Responding quickly, Kisame made some hand seals and created a water shark from the surrounding water. The shark easily brushed aside the three weapons and struck Toriya head on, who fell into the water with a splash.

"Well, well… that was easy," Kisame commented.

"I think not, Kisame," Itachi said quietly.

He looked at the place where Toriya had fallen. Instead of her body, there was a log, innocently drifting on the swaying water.

"She has fast reactions. Don't underestimate this jinchuuriki."

"A Substitute Jutsu, eh? Heh, it would be boring if she wasn't good, wouldn't it, Itachi-san," Kisame smirked.

He made a couple of hand seals, and ten water dragons emerged from the water, each blasting high-pressure water in various directions.

"**Futon: Marukuha no Jutsu!**"

A stream of solidified air rings shot through the water and disintegrated the dragons. As water droplets from the former water creations rained all around them, Toriya threw four kunai at Kisame.

"You're going to have to do better than that!" Kisame said, knocking away the kunai with his Samehada.

In the same swift motion, he swung at Toriya, who quickly countered by drawing the katana on her back. Kisame's strength was too great, however; the shark skin sword pushed back Toriya's thin sword and ripped through her right shoulder. Small strips of clothing from the said region along with flitting droplets of blood fluttered to the water below, tainting the transparent liquid.

"Stupid popsicle stick," Toriya growled, clenching her teeth in pain and bouncing away onto a nearby tree branch.

"MY SAMEHADA ISN'T A DESSERT!!!!!"

Right after he made his bristling remark, Kisame's legs suddenly buckled beneath him. He felt the same numb sensation in his arms.

"What the-"

It was then he noticed four needles, one on each of his four limbs, sticking out of his blue skin.

"Remember those kunai?" Toriya said. "They had senbon needles hidden under them so they wouldn't be obvious. When you knocked them aside, I used my chakra to control them. Oh, and they're also dipped in a paralysis potion from the nectar of a flower native to Suna, so you won't be moving for a while." Smirk.

Kisame was silent for a moment; then he started chuckling again.

"My, my… looks like I've been outwitted by a mere genin. My apologies, Itachi-san."

"I told you not to underestimate her," Itachi said with slight annoyance. "I'll take care of it." Hand seals. "Katon! Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"

Toriya dodged the giant fireball and then, with a thump, found herself pinned against a tree with some shuriken. She was shocked at Itachi's great speed and was even shocker when she saw his red Sharigan eyes staring right into her eyes. In an instant, she found herself in a vastly different environment. The trees and plants had disappeared and given way to a row of hardened mud buildings and billowing sand tufts. It looked vaguely familiar, like an old photograph that was fading into the wisps of time. The colors would dim, and the smiles would darken until all that was left was a blur and painful memories of a time long forgotten. Or painful memories of a tragedy and a deep gash in the heart.

This was her old home.

This was where the Mizuiro clan had once resided.

Through a strange crimson mist, she

heard

cries in the

distance.

dark shapes with raised swords

sharp

metal

cackles

eats into soft flesh like an infection screams.

red pools gleaming

agony. horror the acrid taste of

_ make it stop._

blood. fear. chaos

_nii-san!_

it's like

ink paint

_ my fingers_

_kaa-san.. _

bodies writhing on the soaked ground

liver, intestines

_run away_

ripped like cloth

intangible organs

_I'll protect you_

incurable dead cells

shreds

_go!_

flail helplessly

in the sodden air

drenched with death

shuddering breaths

_ my hands_

_ tou-san_

it's so

scarlet.

warm.

_don't leave me_

blood

fading

_ don't go_

fa d i n g into the dar k n e s s

light.

After what seemed like forever, Toriya struggled to open her eyes but failed. She only saw darkness and felt nothing but pain and numbness. Reliving the night when rogue nin had wiped out her clan was too much for her to handle._I can't move._

"Well, that did the trick." Kisame's voice came from a faraway distance as though there were invisible walls obstructing the sound waves. "Itachi-san's Tsukuyomi never fails."

_I wonder…_ In one deft moment, Toriya dragged herself to consciousness, gripped a kunai in her left hand, and sliced it across in front of her. Itachi bounded away with merely a ripped sleeve, but it was enough to startle both Akatsuki-nin.

"Heh… didn't you say not to underestimate me, Itachi?"

Toriya still felt quite disoriented, but at least she was up. Now it was time to escape. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kon and Kai lying face up and floating on the water. _Perfect._

Forcing out as much strength as she could muster in her zombie-like state, she slipped some of the blood from her right shoulder onto her thumb. With a poof of smoke, she summoned Tsumemaru in his full hawk form and clambered onto his back.

"Get Kon and Kai," she whispered, clenching onto the hawk's feathers with clammy hands. The giant bird dropped down, scooped up the unconscious Kon and Kai into its talons, and took flight into the clear blue sky. The last image Toriya saw before completely blacking out was Itachi (peering upwards at them with an air of dignified reproach) and Kisame (still paralyzed and, by the looks of it, frothing out a stream of colorful words) on the geographical miracle of a new lake in the middle of a forest.

And the last thought that flashed through her mind before yielding to the gathering darkness was, _I will get stronger._

-- _End flashback_ --

* * *

**Futon: Marukuha no Jutsu** – Wind Release: Ring Air Blast Technique

**----- **

**A/N**: Doesn't the Tsukuyomi scene look poetic? -.- Hoho, I'm so sadistic. The colors in Tsukuyomi are supposed to be warped, but I thought that describing blood as being white would be strange, so they remain red. And the idea of calling Kisame's sword a popsicle was something I got from fanart! Hehe. I don't own _Naruto_.

R&R! (Which can also stand for rock and roll. So rock on, peoples.)


	3. Purpose

**Chapter 3: Purpose**

* * *

Toriya opened her eyes again. Shortly after that incident four years ago, she had defected from Suna, leaving her head protector and a note behind, promising her friends that she would return. As she made her way across the silent desert in the cloak of darkness (she had purposely picked a sandstorm-less night), she could imagine Kon's thorough confusion and Temari's sad look of having an old friend leave. Kai and Kankuro would probably frown disapprovingly, and Gaara would have his usual stoic expression with (she'd like to think) a flickering hint of emotion in his pale green eyes.

She left Suna in search of something. It was not revenge that she sought; baa-sama had long ago taught her to forgive. To not seek the shinobi who had killed their clan. To look forward on the road of life, which, after all, was not all about hatred. Although her grandmother was very wise and had been the one to protect her during the massacre by taking her away, Toriya had had questions. She could not chase away the haunting images of the corpses of her parents and brother. At night she would see their blank faces (what else would dead people look like?), their sword wounds gaping open, still raw, and leaking slow streams of blood that poisoned the ground in all its gory scarlet glory.

"Why was our clan so easily destroyed?" Toriya had asked on more than one occasion. "Who were those rogue nin?"

And baa-sama would always furrow her white eyebrows, as though she were contemplating a riddle that had stumped her. Her chestnut eyes, so much like Toriya's, would cloud. "Such tragedies should not be talked about," she would say curtly. "It's in the past. Here, Toriya-chan, look after this stew for me while I mend your clothes."

And the excuse Toriya had given her for leaving was that she needed training outside of Suna. Baa-sama (bless her prudent soul) had given her a sharp stare as though accessing her. But she understood how much could be accomplished with training with the hawk clan, which the Mizuiro had lived along side with practically forever. In fact, it was said that Tsumemaru-sama's late grandfather was the hawk partner of the first Mizuiro, much like Tsumemaru-sama was Toriya's partner and Sora-sama was baa-sama's (**A/N: Agh, so many _sama_'s…**). These alliances were quite helpful, as the hawks were powerful. They could easily be summoned by their human counterparts through a blood agreement and some hand seals, much like the way other summoning creatures were summoned. Fiercely loyal to their Mizuiro partners, the hawks also possessed copious amounts of chakra and skill.

"Fine, granddaughter," baa-sama had sighed in response to Toriya's decision to leave. "You're thirteen now, and I'm sure Tsumemaru-sama can take care of you. But-" and here she gave Toriya a stern look "-do not forget what I have taught you."

This included the warnings baa-sama had given her regarding the rokubi, the six-tailed demon bird within Toriya. "Rokubi has the ability to control wind and even the weather," baa-sama would say with her eyes closed behind tired eyelids. Her tanned face was wrinkled like windswept sand, and Toriya used to love touching her skin and admiring its texture.

"My husband, your jii-sama, sacrificed himself by sealing the demon inside your newly born body. It was to prevent rokubi from ravaging the Mizuiro clan but not so much Suna because our clan, as you know, is slightly isolated from the main village." One year later, Toriya knew, it was decided that Chiyo-sama would seal the ichibi inside Gaara to save Suna.

She sighed here. "Your jii-sama held high hopes for you, pulling his faith into your ability to control the demon. Do not take advantage of this power to achieve evildoings."

Toriya did remain true to baa-sama's words. Indeed, it was not revenge that she yearned for; it was power. She needed training away from the nurturing environment of Suna (that is, if it was ever nurturing to begin with). She needed to be able to defend herself better. And she needed to keep Akatsuki at bay from Suna. One jinchuuriki in the village was more than enough (though only she, baa-sama, and Akatsuki knew of it), and she hoped Gaara would be strong enough to fend them off.

However, more concerns tugged at the deep corners of Toriya's mind. Just recently, Gaara had been kidnapped and the ichibi had been extracted from inside him. When baa-sama informed her through the Origami Message Jutsu (the note was written on paper that was folded into a crane and then sent to the recipient) that Chiyo-san had revived Gaara, she had breathed a sigh of relief. Gaara was alive and recuperating, but this shed light on the awesome strength of Akatsuki. Who exactly were they, and what were their goals?

_Well now_, Toriya told herself, _it's been four years, and I've gotten stronger. I hope—no, I must—be strong enough to fend myself against Akatsuki._

This was her purpose, her reason for living.

She knew she had only managed to scrape by last time because of sheer luck. Somehow her willpower had crushed the wall of unconsciousness and helped her escape. But this time, by a coincidental twist of fate during her itinerant training, she stumbled across the path of Kisame and Itachi in the Land of Rain.

The rain was lightening into a drizzle of soft mist, and she dropped the bamboo umbrella onto the ground. It caused a slight ripple on the wet mud and then stood still. Time had changed her, both physically and mentally. Her hair had been cut short and was now tied into a small pigtail at the back, while her bangs, no longer held up by a head protector, slid down to slight cover her eyebrows. Her katana, with newly gained powers, was now temporarily minimized to the size of a dagger that was attached to her lower right thigh instead of her back. Tough days had galvanized her eyes, and she was looking more like the rokubi inside her than ever.

This time was different.

Her eyes began to turn into a golden shade.

* * *

**A/N**: _Naruto_ belongs to Kishimoto. CoolIce has kindly requested for some background info, which would be helpful in explaining what the heck is going on. I originally wanted to include the Rain battle in here, but it turned out that the explanations took quite an amount of space. So the battle has been postponed to the next chapter.

I hope I didn't make Toriya sound too emo. I've already avoided making her into a female version of Sasuke by ruling out revenge, but now she's kind of ZOMG I MUST GET STRONGERRRRrrrr. ……I love how I'm poking fun at my own character.


	4. Wind, Earth, and Water

**Chapter 4: Wind, Earth, and Water**

**A/N**:** Toriya versus Itachi**. Sorry for the delay! I was having problems planning out how the battle would go, but it is now. _Naruto_ characters (c) Masashi Kishimoto. I own the others.

* * *

"We have no business with you, Toriya-chan," Itachi said quietly. "Your bijuu is assigned to someone else."

"Like I care about that," she retorted. "If I can kill both of you now, then two jinchuuriki that you're supposed to capture will be saved."

With that said, she rushed toward Kisame in a flurry of water and mud. The latter nin swiped off his straw hat and swung his Samehada at her. Toriya disappeared in a flash, and in her place countering Samehada was an equally large sword held by Tsumemaru in his human form (he was just as tall as Kisame was, including his headpiece and Kisame's spiky hair).

"Your opponent is me, Shark Face," growled Tsumemaru.

"My, what a nice sword you have, Bird Man," Kisame sneered in return. "Let's see whose is better!"

Meanwhile, Toriya had appeared behind Itachi in a flash and found her fast taijutsu readily countered by Itachi's own movements. His hat flew off and, like the bamboo umbrella, caused ripples on the wed mud before standing still.

After several even blows, Toriay discovered both their forward feet were locked together and her left hand was blocking Itachi's. Quickly, she concentrated her chakra in her right hand and brought forth the fruits of her training: her hand was immersed in a blanket of air, and solidified air extended from her fingers like talons. Reacting quickly, Itachi barely managed to dodge them until _slash!_, a talon that was extended by the wind cut his left cheek. A crimson line appeared where wind-talon and flesh had made contact.

"Tch," Toriya murmured as she bounded backwards, "all that work and only one scratch."

But it was enough to stun Itachi, though of course he did not show it. Aside from the fact that his face now had a scarlet line, this was the first time that someone had successfully struck him since his father had spanked him as a five-year-old (he had been sneakily eating almond wasabi cookies before dinnertime).

_So she's beginning to wield the power of the rokubi_, he thought. _I still__shouldn't underestimate this jinchuuriki. _

Itachi made some swift hand seals and released Goukakyuu no Jutsu. Calmly watching the giant ball of fire blaze loom towards her, Toriya made some hand seals of her own and created an equally gargantuan ball of water. (_A suiton_, Itachi observed. _Her second element is water._) Both spheres collided and produced warm steam that covered the rainy battlefield. Straining his eyes, Itachi saw Toriya surge at him once again. This time, he drew a kunai and shot it at her. When it sank into her abdomen, she burst into a blob of mud. Without warning, the brown substance wrapped itself around Itachi, immobilizing him like a snake.

_An earth bunshin that can still be used even after destruction…_ Itachi thought._ Not only has she shown an affinity to __**three**__ elements, wind, earth, and water, but she's also created a very interesting jutsu. Quite remarkable for her age._

Muddy Itachi then disappeared in a poof of smoke: it was a shadow bunshin. From her hiding place underground, Toriya cursed silently. _That damn Itachi created a clone as well. He knew about my diversion and is now trying to mock me…_

"You've improved, Toriya-chan." She started, never having sensed Itachi's presence anywhere. "However…"

Using a sparking raiton, Itachi pulled Toriya out from under the earth, and held her against a nearby rock. She was staring right into his Sharigan eyes again. Inexplicitly, Toriya suddenly felt a little jolt of electricity. _But he's not making another raiton..._

Meanwhile, Itachi was also confused. His genjutsu was not working. Realizing that Itachi had realized it, Toriya grinned smugly, her golden eyes glimmering.

"Didn't you know about rokubi's eyes? They can't be fooled by illusions, and they cancel out the effects of eyes of kekkai genkai, which, coincidentally…include your Sharingan."

Undeterred by the look of well-restrained annoyance (so it seemed) on Itachi's face, Toriya promptly delivered an uppercut that knocked him backwards. Cringing ever so slightly from the punch, Itachi was mapping out his next move when the telepathic voice of the Akatsuki Leader interrupted his thoughts.

_Itachi! Kisame! Where the hell have you two been?_, angrily growled the Leader._We're ready to seal the nibi and sanbi, and you two are. Not. In. Position. Get going RIGHT NOW._

"Our apologies, Leader-sama," Kisame returned, "We were temporarily side-tracked but shall now be on our way."

_Yes, you'd better be…_ Leader muttered some incoherent threat (something about a ban on nail polish) and then broke the telepathic connection.

"Well now, Bird Man and rokubi jinchuuriki," Kisame now said to them while jumping away from an attacking Tsumemaru, "we must be on our way now."

"What??" Toriya said in disbelief. "Are you running away?"

Both Akatsuki-nin disappeared in two blurs of black without another word. Needless to say, Toriya was unwilling to let them flee.

"Tsumemaru-sama, let's go!" she ordered.

"Why do I always let you boss me around…" he sighed but complied anyway by turning back into his true hawk form.

Riding on the back of Tsumemaru, Toriya even borrowed some nearby birds via the Bird's Eye Jutsu to search for Itachi and Kisame. Her efforts eventually proved fruitless, however, as they were now no where to be seen. Frustrated but reluctantly resigned, Toriya began finding a dry place to rest.

In the meantime, Kisame and Itachi were traveling quickly to their regular positions along the borders of the Land of Earth. Once they reached the rocks, they would contact the other stationed Akatsuki members as holographs and then proceed to seal the two newly-captured bijuu.

"That hawk had a nice sword," Kisame said conversationally, "but my Samehada is much cooler, wouldn't you say, Itachi-san?"

"…"

"And ah, how has the jinchuuriki improved?"

"Leader-sama will have a difficult time."

Kisame decided not to say anymore, for he knew that Itachi-san never had much to say anyway and that it was better not to rub his fur the wrong way. **(A/N: Figure of speech, but it kind of makes sense because Itachi is a "weasel.")**

Itachi absentmindedly touched the scratch on his left cheek and reflected upon how truly impressed he was, deep down inside, by Toriya's massive improvement of skills. Control of three elements! That was certainly unheard of; the affinity to water most likely came from the wind- and water-yielding rokubi. She was now nearly as fast as he was and, much to his chagrin, could even repel his Sharingan.

As the two nin continued to bounce along on their way to their designated rocks, Itachi continued to let his mind wander and could not help thinking how good Toriya's body felt against his…

* * *

**A/N**: So now we know Itachi likes almond wasabi cookies, whatever they may taste like. And this, my friend, are the wee beginnings of the genre known as romance. However, Itachi will be absent for a few more chapters before, ah, it all gets really started. 


	5. Home

**Chapter 5: Home**

* * *

After several more days of aimless wandering by herself (Tsumemaru had returned to the Mothernest to recover), Toriya idly noted that the weather was beginning to get warmer and the ground dryer. Random patches of mud and water had given way to tufts of brown grass and scorched rocks, and soon the surroundings melted into endless sand dunes with their smooth golden faces. She had stepped into the Land of Wind.

As she stood in the middle of the desert and felt the blazing sun on her skin and the crisp sand under her sandals and heard a vulture cry a croaking call in the skies above, she suddenly realized how much she missed Suna. Although she had snipped her ties with the village four years ago, it was the only place she could associate with the word "home." Grasped by a strange constricting feeling in her throat, she decided to go visit Suna and her friends. After all, she _did_ promise them that she would come back one day, and she needed to retrieve her Suna head protector.

It was easy getting past the desert when there were no sandstorms and when Toriya had a decent sense of direction. Soon she passed through the high rugged cliffs that were the gateways to Suna. There were several guards stationed at the gateway who peered down at her curiously; some recognized her and began whispering rather loudly. Ignoring them, Toriya stepped forward from the shadows of the cliff and into Suna for the first time in four years.

She paused, blinking in the desert sunshine and letting a wave of nostalgia hit her, a feeling not dissimilar to that of innocently opening a door and suddenly having the wind roar in the face, jolting the startled door opener out of an indoor reverie. Toriya immediately saw that the most drastic change about Suna was the increase of activity and—what was the word—_happiness_, a cheerfulness, a sort of…contentment hovering lightheartedly in the air. Robed villagers were bustling about on their daily businesses with the occasional turbaned shinobi surveying the stone streets. Childhood memories seemed to dance in her mind, pieces of faded photographs lurking in shadows and crawling into the teasing light.

There was the mechanic shop where Kankuro loved go to as a boy every day; he would look yearningly at new gadgets to install in his beloved puppets. Temari and she used to stop by the sweet shop after their training sessions; she remembered the fan-using girl would always choose green tea mochi. After being assigned to the squad with Kon, Kai, and Kiiro-sensei, her two teammates would inevitably be bickering in the streets, drawing bemused glances from girls and annoyed glares from the chuunin and jounin. And then that was the café where—

"TORIYA-CHAAAAAAAAAAN!!"

A very exuberant cry shattered her thoughts, and a very bouncy Kon glomped her from behind not a moment later.

"Ow, Kon—"

"YOU'RE BAAAAACK!!!! I'm so happy, so happy…"

"You're choking me…"

"Toriya!" a blond eighteen-year-old girl carrying a long box on her red sash exclaimed, hugging her in front.

"Hi, Temar—arrrrrrrrghhhh!"

A rickety, multi-legged wooden puppet had appeared out of nowhere and proceeded to squeeze her, Temari, and Kon as well.

"Kankuro!! Don't suffocate me!"

"Ah, gomen, Toriya-chan," the black-clad teenager said sheepishly.

It was after she entangled herself with difficulty from the human knots that she took a good look at the three. Temari had grown a little, but excluding her higher ponytails, Toriya would be just as tall as she was. Kankuro and Kon both had grown immensely; Toriya looked remorsefully at the latter, who had once stood half a head below her and now instead stood half a head taller.

"Toriya, where have you been?" Temari said. "We've missed you so much."

"All over the place," Toriya replied, "training in different conditions and fighting shinobi with different abilities." She decided not to mention Akatsuki.

"Ah, here's Kai. KAAAAAAII!! Look who's back!!!" Kon waved energetically at a tall, brown-haired boy standing aloof from the small crowd that had gathered around Toriya.

"Yo, Kai," Toriya greeted him.

He merely inclined his head at him. Kai, too, had shot up in height and was nearly as tall as, say, Itachi, but that probably included Kai's usually spiky hair.

"Where's Gaara?" Toriya asked.

"He's the Kazekage, remember? So he's attending to his usual business," Kon replied. "I'm sure he'll be glad to see you right now, though."

"Eh, no. It's alright," Toriya broke in. Visiting Gaara so recently after the extraction of the ichibi would merely increase her guilt. Although the rokubi was sealed within her, she had never experienced the neglect and taunts a typical jinchuuriki would have felt in the childhood years. The villagers never knew how the giant demon bird was taken care of; they assumed that her jii-sama had merely slain it using his awesome powers and died afterwards. While everyone saw her as a normal child, her family (grandmother, parents, and brother) knew of the incident and were more cautious, albeit still loving her. And so she always felt shameful when she laid eyes on Gaara or even Naruto because she had experienced childhood love while they had not and instead were left to struggle in their mental dungeons of loneliness.

"How's baa-sama?" Toriya hastily changed the subject.

A silence ensued, and Toriya felt her already dying mood deflate like a burst balloon. Was something wrong with her grandmother?

"Toriya…" Kankuro began. "She's, uhm…"

"She passed on," Temari finished. "She died peacefully in her sleep. Her funeral was about a month ago."

"Oh… I see…"

Toriya did not know how to respond. Baa-sama… even sweet, old, wise baa-sama had left her. She had lived a good life and had taught Toriya many things, but she was… gone. Forever. Toriya was now the last Mizuiro.

"She left you everything she owned," Temari added quietly, timidly peering at Toriya's face.

If Temari was anticipating tears and heart-wrenching tears of distress, she was not going to get it. The massacre had long deprived Toriya of tears, and the tough training only amplified her cold heart. She was calm and never lost her temper or nerve anymore.

"I'm going to go… home," Toriya murmured to no one in particular. She needed to confirm that baa-sama had really left this world and that she was not cooking a stew in the kitchen or sharpening some kunai.

"I'll walk you there," Kai said quickly.

Just as abruptly, the mood seemed to lift in weight a bit. The corners of Temari's mouth twitched and curved slightly upward. Kankuro and Kon sighed and each made a distinct face that clearly said, here we go again. These were all the most discreet movements, but Toriya's eyes caught them all. Ignoring them, she headed toward her old house and did not say anything when Kai caught up to her. She knew but remained silent; she was not interested.

The walk to her house was relatively quiet except for Kai's questions about her training and Toriya's brief replies that fell short of being rudely blunt. It was also a relatively short journey, as the remaining members of the Mizuiro clan, who were herself and baa-sama, decided to move back into mainstream Suna instead of dwelling at the village's outskirts after the massacre. When they reached her house three blocks later, Kai, to her growing annoyance, continued to stand at the door. Silently, she unclipped her right glove, removed the silver bracelet, and reformed it into a key with a hand seal. She remembered that baa-sama had adjusted the door so that it would always locked itself, and this key-bracelet was created as a convenience.

"Oh, Toriya-chan… here's your head protector. I just polished it last night."

"Thanks."

"Sure."

"Kai?"

"Yeah?"

"I would like some time on my own."

"Oh, right. Uh, see you later, then."

"See you."

And without another word, Toriya stepped into her house, half expecting to see baa-sama's wrinkled face smiling at her, only no one was there. She closed the door and felt lonelier than before. Standing there in the entry foyer, Toriya could only hear the pounding of her heart and feel the lonely air pressing against her like a mournful dog begging for attention, even for just a small absentminded pat on the head. Toriya sighed and wandered around the house, eventually reaching her room and plopping onto her bed.

The house was exactly like she had remembered it. She thought with a pang that baa-sama must have cleaned it often in hopes of welcoming Toriya back to a spic and span house. Attempting to close off these depressing ideas, she turned on her side. Something caught her eye. Sitting up quickly, Toriya examined the piece of paper more closely. It was clipped in the beak of the small hawk statuette on her nightstand. On the tan-colored paper, there was writing in black ink, a neat curly handwriting that looked familiar…

Toriya snatched the paper out of the beak and ripped it open. And sure enough, it was a letter addressed to her from baa-sama:

_My dearest Toriya-chan,_

_I leave this letter here knowing that I would die before you return. As you might have already discovered, I leave everything I own, and whatever left the Mizuiro clan owns, in your possession. I also hand my blood contract with Sora-sama to you; she is a very loyal partner who is immensely talented in the art of medical ninjutsu and can surely further your skills in this area, more than what I have already taught you. I trust that you will take care of your new possessions well._

_As I will have already died and you will be old enough, I think it is time to reveal the past. I should no longer keep it away from you._

Here Toriya gave a sharp intake of breath. Did she mean—?

_It is time to let you know the truth… or at least, what I know of it. On the dreadful night of that massacre that killed your parents, older brother, and the entire clan, it was not a group of rogue nin that attacked us. They were Sound nin, masked and cruel with a musical note symbol on their head protectors. Little is known about Otogakure, but I understand that it is located north of the Land of Fire and that Oto-nin are skilled at handling sound waves that cut through our wind. However, I strongly suspect that someone from our clan betrayed us and gave away the secret of entering the Mizuiro residential area; no one else could have known how to cross the barriers and traps that protect us._

_Toriya-chan, I implore you: go to Otogakure and discover the rest of the truth. But remember not to seek revenge; that is never the answer! Simply go and find out what really happened that horrible night._

_I have nothing more to say to you, granddaughter. You have made me proud. You are perhaps the strongest Mizuiro nin we have ever had: gifted, quick to learn, and understanding. Heed my words to you well, and protect what you must._

_The best of luck to you,_

_Your baa-sama_

Toriya could not move. Baa-sama had finally revealed the truth to her, and the rest of that truth laid in Otogakure. Straining her memory, she could picture the three Oto-nin who had entered the chuunin exams years before. And there was something else… she frowned. Orochimaru, the white-faced snake-like sannin of Otogakure, had impersonated the Fourth Kazekage to attack Konoha. And, from what baa-sama had told her via the Origami Message Jutsu, Uchiha Sasuke had defected from Konoha to join Orochimaru, who also had the medical nin Yakushi Kabuto helping him.

It looked like a vast challenge to simply enter Orochimaru's base, let alone questioning him himself.

"But I suppose it's good training," Toriya said wryly.

She looked outside the window. Beyond the distant sand dunes, the sky was deepening into a marigold color and nighttime was looming like a lumbering bear sniffing its way out from its hibernation cave. Toriya also needed the rest tonight and probably should get a bite to eat.

It was decided then: she would set off to Otogakure at the break of dawn.

* * *

**A/N:**_Glomp_. I love that word. _Naruto_ belongs to Kishimoto. 


	6. Truth

**Chapter 6: Truth**

**A/N:**Agh, I couldn't think of a better way to infiltrate Oto and follow with a series of attacks, so it took me a while to finally finish this chapter.

* * *

There were rice fields, rice fields, and more rice fields everywhere. Toriya had seen rice fields while flying over on Tsumemaru, and now, on land, she was seeing rice fields all around her. Using multiple sparrows and songbirds and warblers via the Bird's Eye Jutsu, Toriya was getting increasingly irritated with the sight of endless green shoots sprouting out from the watery trenches. Now she could see why this region was aptly called the Land of Rice Fields.

It was already midday, and Toriya still could not find Orochimaru's hideout in the rice field-infested land. Thinking wearily that she should travel further inward the country, Toriya suddenly sensed two presences several yards behind her. Instinctively, she jumped onto the nearest tree branch and used Doton: Camouflage Jutsu to hide herself. Soon, two boys appeared on the road, one with blonde hair and the other donning a cap. And they were both wearing a head protector_ with a musical note on it_. Toriya's heart swelled with sheer happiness; they were Oto-nin. And once they were in hearing range, she caught a few words that clearly indicated they were heading for Otogakure.

Just her luck! She smirked then transformed herself into an Oto kunoichi with similar clothing and the all-important Oto head protector. Hopping quietly off the tree branch, she made an elaborate show of adjusting her bags and equipment before trotting out into the open.

"Konnichiwa," she called out cheerfully.

They glanced at her and greeted her with studied reservations.

"Are you returning to Otogakure?" Toriya asked.

"Yes," Blonde Hair replied flatly.

"I am too," Toriya responded, choosing her words carefully, "but I'm new, so I got lost on the way. Mind if I join you?"

"No."

"Alright."

Then there was silence except for the random twittering of birds. She decided she at least needed to get some more information about Otogakure and then proceeded to ask some questions.

As Toriya followed Blonde Hair and Cap Head, she noticed that the landscape of rice fields was turning into a slightly wooded region with ghostly trees, their pale white branches curling menacingly at the passing threesome. She couldn't help shuddering; they looked like snakes.

Soon, they reached a cave. The gaping hole in the rock was so obscured by the chalky white tree branches that Toriya wouldn't have been surprised if she had missed it during her search. Blonde Hair performed a simple jutsu (emitting sound waves, it seemed) and the branches crept away, opening a clear path for the three nin to enter. Upon exiting the dark cave, Toriya found herself looking at a gloomy town that was shrouded by what seemed like a thin black mist.

They had arrived at Otogakure. Toriya was surprised at how easy it was to slip inside.

There was barely any people walking around on the rugged streets; the "village" practically looked like a ghost town, a strange little dark smudge in the middle of the fertile Land of Rice Fields.

"According to rumors," Cap Head was saying, "Orochimaru-sama is preparing to leave Oto and set up base somewhere else."

They suddenly heard the faint sound of a sneering cackle to the left.

"And that would be Orochimaru-sama being very happy," Blonde Hair muttered. "That arrogant bastard Uchiha has been mastering many jutsu recently."

Toriya knew he was talking about Sasuke. Glancing in that direction, she could barely discern a wooden door frame with her sharp eyes. Orochimaru's headquarters.

"Where are you going to go after Orochimaru-sama leaves Oto?" Toriya asked.

"We came to Oto because we had no where else to go," Cap Head sighed. "If Orochimaru-sama leaves, then we'll go with him."

_Fat chance_, Toriya thought dryly. _He only sees them as mere pawns._

Bidding them farewell, she trotted off in a random direction. She then doubled back and bounced over to the wooden door frame she had seen. Poising herself on the tree branch that hung over the frame, she listened intently to the happenings inside the door-less room.

"Orochimaru-sama, how is Sasuke-kun doing?" spoke a young, steady voice.

Toriya frowned. That sounded like Kabuto.

"Sasuke-kun has improved vastly," replied Orochimaru's smooth voice. "I think he should be ready to be my new body soon enough… kukuku…"

"Shall I prepare to move to River Country?" Kabuto asked.

"Yes… that would be wise. We'll leave tomorrow when Sasuke-kun has had a good night's rest. Now leave me."

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama."

Kabuto exited the room, walking quickly to his destination. Toriya hid her presence, waiting for him to get out of hearing range. Once he disappeared into the strange fog, Toriya changed back into her original form, then flickered into the room and performing Doton: Vine Binding Jutsu as she did. Thin mud tentacles rose from the earth and entwined themselves around a calmly surprised Orochimaru. As a precaution, she sent two senbon needles, dipped in the same paralysis potion she used on Kisame years ago, flying into his exposed neck before landing neatly on the floor.

Orochimaru paused then sneered like a snake toying with its newly-caught prey.

"Ah… you must be Mizuiro Toriya."

"How do you know my name?" Toriya asked cautiously, masking her surprise.

"Why, your brother talked about you. How everyone was saying that you were such a great kunoichi and would even surpass him one day."

This certainly was unexpected.

"How do you know nii-san?"

"Tut tut… it seems your dear brother didn't tell you anything."

"Great. So why don't you enlighten me now that I have you immobilized?"

"I suppose it won't hurt."

Orochimaru closed his eyes as though searching through his memory for the story before finally speaking with Toriya waiting impatiently.

"Your brother, Mizuiro Kuroe-kun, came to me when I happened to pass Suna thirteen years ago. He told me that he was happy until his sister—you—came into the picture. When your tou-san started training you, he immediately recognized your skills. Although your tou-san spent equal amounts of time training both of you, he seemed to favor you more, as the more talented sibling. Kuroe-kun became jealous. His performance began to falter. He failed missions. He fell into depression. And he sought power. You see, Kuroe-kun liked to be the one everyone depended on, and he saw you as a threat to his power.

"He spent two years training under me, but you continued to improve at a drastic rate. Soon enough, I discovered that you had the rokubi sealed within you. Yes—" (Toriya had gasped) "—I knew. I have my ways of knowing. Kuroe-kun suspected that that was the secret to your ability, and his hatred and greed continue to fester, consuming his soul until he desired to destroy the clan that made him suffer so much."

Memories began to take shape inside Toriya's mind. She remembered the bouts of sullen anger and dark silences nii-san had had. They came mysteriously, and young Toriya had never paid any heed to that. Thinking back, she should have done something about it… talked to him… tried to save him…

"It was overkill, I admit," Orochimaru continued, "but bloodshed is has a way of appealing to a wounded soul. I agreed to send some of my nin to wipe out the Mizuiro clan, and it later turned out that the Mizuiro clan, unaware of what was going on, stood no chance against Oto's sound waves. Kuroe-kun was unaware of my little plan, however, and my nin killed him in the process. For you see, I was becoming rather annoyed with his incoherent mumblings and weak intentions. He was better off dead.

"Pity you didn't die as well."

"You—" Toriya growled, frenzied fury and raw hatred quickly replacing the budding regret inside her.

"Oh, come, come," Orochimaru smiled snidely, "admit it: you're glad he's dead. He would have killed you eventually."

"THAT'S NOT TRUE," Toriya shouted, "nii-san… NII-SAN WASN'T LIKE THAT!!"

"That's because you never knew his true side. Overshadowed by a younger sibling. What a fool."

_Why?_ her mind screamed. _Why did it turn out this way? Nii-san! You betrayed our clan. You betrayed our family. You killed our parents! WHY??_

As much as she fiercely denied it, she knew Orochimaru wasn't lying; his body language told it all. The only thing tethering her to reasoning and restraining her from blind rage was baa-sama's words:_Do not seek revenge_.

"Toriya-chan… you must know deep down in your heart that he died was as though you had killed him."

"SHUT UP YOU BASTARD!!! I WOULD NEVER KILL MY FAMILY FOR SUCH TRIVIAL REASONS!!!! IT WAS YOU. You fed him these… these stupid ideas, and IT DROVE HIM TO INSANITY," she snarled. "The Kuroe I knew wouldn't do this. He wouldn't… he—"

Toriya never finished her sentence. There was a blur of a dark violet body, flash of blue, and clash of two kunai as Toriya and Kabuto clashed in mid-jump and slid away from each other on the ground, Kabuto in front of the exit and Toriya in front of Orochimaru. They glared at each other in cold acknowledgement.

"Oh? Kabuto," said Orochimaru, "you came at the perfect time. I was just recalling the good days with Kuroe-kun with his little sister here…"

"Good days, my ass," Toriya snapped.

She made to move forward but collapsed when a pain shot through her left leg.

"I shattered your tibia with my chakra when we collided a few seconds ago," Kabuto said smugly, "now you won't be able to escape!"

He ran towards her, hand encased in blue chakra and preparing to make another attack using medical ninjutsu. Taking advantage of this small delay, Toriya accumulated a ball of wind in her hand and released it suddenly into an explosion. Grateful this time around for rokubi's powers, she one-footedly bounded out in the wake of falling objects and dust.

Suddenly, her right leg caught onto Kabuto's fallen body, and she tripped. Grimacing as the ground scraped her arms and face, she spotted a flash on the ground in front of her. It was a ring. Blinking, she grabbed it on a whim, stuffed it inside one of her bags, and then proceeded to heal herself. She made a mental note to herself to visit baa-sama's grave and thank her for teaching her how to mend bone fractures.

Then out of nowhere, a streak of blue lightning shot towards her way. Toriya, still distracted with patching up her leg, dodged the electric attack at the last moment. The hem of her left sleeve was slightly charred as a result of her negligence. Snapping herself to full attention with a healed leg, she turned to glare at her new opponent and felt a cold wave of shock pass through her body.

At first glance, she could have almost mistaken her attacker as Itachi. When she took a second look, however, she could discern the faintly distinct differences. Most obviously, Itachi would never wear something…like that. Itachi had charcoal gray hair and usually looked lofty, disdainful, and coldly indifferent; there was also the issue of lines near his nose (Toriya could never figure out what they were; perhaps he had been overusing his eyes and thus was under stress, or perhaps it simply was hereditary). This nin, however, had black hair with shades of navy blue, and his expression held hints of hatred, bitterness, and, unless she was badly mistaken, sorrow. An avenger. A teenage boy with a tragic past.

"Uchiha Sasuke."

* * *

**A/N**: O the drama! I expect reviews for my hard earned efforts of squeezing out this chapter. I don't own _Naruto_. And tibia is the lower front leg bone; I had to look that up! 


	7. The Younger Sibling

**Chapter 7: The Younger Sibling**

* * *

Sasuke looked at her in the same manner dignified reproach as Itachi that Toriya immediately thought back to when Kisame and Itachi had tried to capture her back in Grass Country. As much as she had originally thought this little adventure to be training, Toriya was in a bit of emotional distress at the time and had no heart for battling. It was the true mark of a shinobi that her glaring expression gave no sign of her weakness. There was a soft shuffling sound behind her; Orochimaru and Kabuto were apparently watching the stand-off as well, though they were probably struggling under layers of debris.

"Mizuiro Toriya, is it?" Sasuke said. "I never thought you would come here."

"My presence seems to be rather unwelcome here," Toriya replied sardonically, "and here I was trying to leave with utmost poise when you came barging in the scene."

"Since you're here, I might as well kill you," he said, unimpressed.

"What am I? A warm-up for your battle-to-the-death against Itachi?"

"I must become stronger."

Toriya fell silent at these familiar words.

"I am an avenger."

With that said, he rushed at her, katana drawn and sizzling with the electricity of his Chidori. Toriya sighed. Fleeing was clearly not a viable option at this time.

She reached for her own katana. As the dagger-like object was drawn from its small scabbard on her right thigh, it elongated and became a fully sized katana. Toriya ran her index and middle fingers of her chakra-emitted left hand along the smooth blade. Filled with chakra, the thin weapon grew into a large sword tall as she was and thrice its original width, ready to utilize its new powers gained during her four years' worth of travels. Just as Sasuke was about to slice her in half, Toriya blocked his katana with hers, which she had quickly covered with a layer of wind. The wind element chakra weakened the electrical katana, and Sasuke was forced to retreat.

"Sasuke, I'll be frank," Toriya said as she casually examined her enlarged katana, "I am in no mood to battle, but I do these words to tell you."

She suddenly stared right at Sasuke, brown eyes gleaming like auburn-colored steel.

"Revenge will take you no where. Your heart will only know cold hatred, and you will never be able to rest. I say this as a fellow shinobi, the younger sibling of a brother who has betrayed his clan. I understand how you feel, but forget about this, Sasuke. Forget about hunting down Itachi and forget about the pain from losing all your bonds.

"It will do you no good."

Toriya turned to walk away.

"It's too late," Sasuke said quietly.

Toriya stopped in her tracks.

"IT'S TOO LATE. I'VE ALREADY GONE THIS FAR!! WHAT DO YOU KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT WHAT I'VE GONE THROUGH???"

Toriya flickered away to safety just as Sasuke's angry katon scorched the place where she had been standing. She turned around and calmly observed Sasuke. His eyes remained black, though they were now filled with a sort of distress and twisted pain.

"Your choice, then. I'll take a rain check for our battle," Toriya added, "but don't forget what I've said, Sasuke."

And off she bounced into the distance with three pairs of eyes watching her leave.

* * *

**A/N**: Short chapter. It seems special enough, in a sense, to be separated from the previous one. I don't own _Naruto_. 


	8. Acceptance

**Chapter 8: Acceptance**

* * *

As Toriya bounced away from Oto, the only image she saw in her mind was Sasuke's angry, and distressed face. It both pained and rattled her. She could have turned out that way if it were not for baa-sama's kind upbringing and wisdom, though meeting Orochimaru face to face had nearly tempted her to slice off his head with a single wind-talon strike (not that he would die that easily with his countless body-borrowing techniques).

Choosing a faster mode of transportation, Toriya summoned Tsumemaru in his full hawk form and flew back to Suna on his back. As the landscape changed from rice fields to grass, then rain, and finally desert, Toriya was deeply immersed in her thoughts, stormy sea of desolation.

_Nii-san…_

She closed her eyes and tried to press out the clenching pain in her memories, but the ghastly image of her family's corpses rose hazily from the depths of her mind again. Glistening blood and glazed brown eyes. Dark realization and crushing shock. The faded photographs were torn, shredded like shards of rain, and yet…

She remembered his deep, soothing voice that had always been analogous to safety and bliss. His smile, radiating with warm rays that would always lift her from the abyss of her sadness after kaa-san's scolding her for accidentally tearing her new clothes. His brotherly touch that promised protection, his humility and rolling laughter. He would always bring her to look at the glowing sunset, the sun a burning scarlet jewel beset in the distant golden sand. He called it a palace that would return the next day, and return it did, always there to nourish her imagination and foster her happiness.

_Why…_

It wrung her heart, mind, and soul.

_The sky is bleeding…_

Then there was immeasurable sorrow, lashing out into a doleful wail, a cry of distress at finally uncovering the unexpected truth.

_Hate… Despair…_

But this was all in her head. She brooded silently and willed herself back into calmness. Gradually, the sea appeased itself into gentle aquamarine waves. The eerily fluttering sensation, like ruffling feathers and bloodthirsty excitement, died down, and Toriya could have sworn she felt a sense of beastly disappointment deep within her, perhaps behind the bars of a seal.

It was late at night they finally reached Suna. At the moment her feet touched the sand outside the cliff entrance and Tsumemaru disappeared in a burst of smoke, five Suna guards surrounded her.

_What now_, Toriya wondered bitterly.

"Toriya-san," the guard in front of her said importantly, "Kazekaga-sama has requested that we bring you to him."

And with that said, the five guards tied her up and marched her to see the Kazekage.

"You didn't have to make them bind me, Gaara," she said ruefully once they entered the Kazekage's office room and the guards dropped her to the ground.

Gaara looked upwards (or actually downwards, as Toriya was sitting on the ground), and she could immediately see that four years had changed him as well. His pale face, stoic as ever, had somehow softened into a paternal gaze fostered slowly from giving and receiving the love and trust of the villagers over the years of Toriya's absence. She felt another stab of guilt at this, remembering his recent capture and extraction of Shukaku the ichibi at the hands of Akatsuki.

"I will talk to her privately," Gaara told the guards, standing up from his chair.

They inclined their heads, untied her ropes, and left the room. A muffled silence fell except for the soft hums of the evening wind outside.

Toriya shook off the strands and stood up, forcing a grin.

"I see you're still short."

Gaara chose to ignore this comment on his height and continued to stare at her, green against brown eyes. He still showed no emotion on his face; Toriya thought wryly how it was strange that she had encountered three of the most expressionless guys within the course of a week.

"I have just received news about an attack on Otogakure," he said.

Toriya wanted to remark how quickly Gaara had obtained this information, but she chose wisely to hold her tongue.

"What were you doing in Oto?" Gaara inquired, still maintaining eye contact.

"Finding out what really happened with my clan."

"…"

"We had been attacked by Oto-nin," Toriya added hastily in response to Gaara's meaningful silence. However, she was purposefully straying away from the core part of the tale, not wanting to mention her brother.

Gaara's face did not change at this, but Toriya saw a faint stirring of surprise in his eyes.

"I will not question you anymore," he said, turning away and returning to his desk. "I will only ask that you remain in Suna for a month in order to—"

"What?" Toriya gasped, completely dispelling the already disheveled game of calmly-look-into-my-eyes-and-show-no-emotions. "Why a month?"

Gaara gave her a look that clearly said, _Shut up,__I was about to tell you, baka._ (But of course, Gaara would never say something like that, Toriya chided herself.)

"You will stay in Suna for a month," he repeated, "to better acquaint yourself with your home village."

There was an awkward pause at the end of his sentence.

"You will also take the jounin exam; I permit you to skip the chuunin portion," Gaara continued. "You will complete no less than ten missions. Also—"

"I am not going to teach at the new academy," Toriya broke in sharply. "I have better things to do."

If Gaara had any eyebrows, he would be raising one right now, but since he did not, his expression merely implored Toriya to continue. Toriya took a deep breath.

"I presume you know about Akatsuki. I… want to learn more about Akatsuki," she resumed. "Its members have been capturing jinchuuriki to extract their bijuu, and I want to find out why. I want to…"

Toriya could no longer look him in the eyes and instead dropped her gaze on the houseplant on Gaara's desk. She focused on the bug crawling innocently on the plant's leaves as though it was the most intriguing feature in the room.

"I want to stop them from doing so. It causes too much pain already," she whispered. "And if possible, I want to bring about the fall of Akatsuki."

An even heavier silence followed this proclamation. Toriya knew it was an extremely bold, extremely dangerous, and perhaps even impossible goal, but as she had already found out why the Mizuiro clan was destroyed, she no longer wished to dwell in the past. What was done was done, and she now wanted to pursue her original goal of gaining power. And using this power to save both herself as well as the remaining jinchuuriki.

"Gaara," she said, looking up again, "I will take the jounin exam and achieve the missions. I will stay in Suna for a month. During this timeframe, I will also be making the necessary preparations to accomplish my goal: training, researching, experimenting. After the month is up, I will leave Suna again. If I stay, I will only pose as a threat to the village. Akatsuki might come for me."

Gaara's eyes widened slightly larger in sudden realization.

"Good afternoon to you, Kazekage-sama," she said softly. "I should go now."

She walked away and opened the door.

"Toriya…"

"Gaara-samaaaaaa!!"

Matsuri, with enough bounce and cheerfulness to rival that of Kon's, rushed into the room, nearly trampling Toriya in the process.

"Gaara-sama!" she exclaimed happily. "I have the latest report on the eastern border…"

While Matsuri chattered on about random sandstorms and a sudden growth of cacti, Toriya took one last look at Gaara and left the room, her new purpose resolved.

As promised, Toriya stayed faithfully in Suna for a month. She passed the jounin exam with flying colors, crushing any doubts other Suna-nin had voiced about this special circumstance of skipping the chuunin test. In one week, she quickly finished all ten of her missions (using Earth Bunshin, of course) and devoted the remaining three weeks of her month plus two extra weeks to preparation: more training in medical ninjutsu with Sora-san, expanding the spy and information system past Mizuiro generations had commenced, and learning about Akatsuki.

The birds that she used in the spy system were apparently extensions of baa-sama's Origami Message Jutsu. Instead of being origami birds that carried words, however, they transformed into sparrow-like robots and collected data via small camera where their eyes would be. With a bit of already-made artificial intelligence, her own chakra, many all-nighters, and endless bowls of instant noodles and super-caffeinated coffee, Toriya created hundreds of these birds. Situated them in various places across the lands, they would alert her in her mind if something out of the ordinary was recorded.

She also sat down with Jiraiya-san to talk about the achievements of Akatsuki, as it was known that this sannin had been spying on the organization for a while. It was relatively easy to get information out of him when she transformed herself as a male nin and treated him to endless cups of sake. This, in addition to her robot birds, shed light on an astonishing discovery by the time Toriya had used up the month and a half.

Akatsuki had already captured and extracted six of the nine existing bijuu; the only jinchuuriki left were herself, Naruto of Konoha, and a boy in Snow Country with the five-tails (gobi). Currently, Akatsuki was down to five members, having lost the long-defected Orochimaru, Sasori, Kakuzu, Hidan, Deidara, and Tobi. However, strangely enough, try as Toriya's birds did, they could not find any traces of Tobi's remains. She strongly suspected that Tobi was still alive, which brought up the number of members to six.

That evening after a rowdy farewell dinner with Kon, Kai (looking sullen whenever Toriya talked to anyone of the male species), Temari, Kankuro, and even Gaara, she ambled over to the site where the Mizuiro clan once lived and where it was now a gravesite. She passed rows and rows of pale gray tombstones and eventually reached the four that she sought. Her family's.

"Baa-sama, kaa-san, tou-san." Hesitant pause. "Nii-san."

Toriya kneeled down and stared at their graves. Their names stared right back at her.

"I have found out why our clan was destroyed," she began, calmly speaking to the stones, "and I accept it. We should not dwell in the past. Nii-san, I forgive you."

A dust of sand gently wafted into the cooling evening air.

"And now, I will pursue my own goal."

She smiled. It was neither happy nor sad, just a simple smile.

"Wish me luck."

Toriya woke up at the first break of daylight the next day. Her objective this time was to go meet the gobi of the snow. Dressing quickly in new attire instead of her training one, she equipped herself with the provisions and weapons she had packed yesterday. A glint of metal on the table caught her eye. Hesitating at the sight of her Suna headband, she decided to bring it with her anyway and then quietly slipped outside. Glancing back at her house one more time, Toriya wondered if she would ever see it again.

"Toriya."

She nearly slipped on the stone streets in shock.

"Gaara!" she gasped after a swift wild search for the speaker. "You nearly gave me a heart attack! What are you doing here anyway?"

He merely looked at her with a mixed expression on his face.

"Why did you never tell me?" he said.

Toriya's surprise was wiped off her face; she knew exactly what he was talking about: that she contained a demon within her. Though hesitant, she braved herself to tell the truth.

"I felt guilty. You were never truly loved as a child, but I had baa-sama. I thought that…you would feel bad because you…"

She lapsed into silence, remembering how she too had once avoided Gaara but not for the same reason as the others: she had always been a quiet child who preferred to be left alone after the massacre because she distrusted other people and was too focused on training.

"I don't," Gaara said calmly.

Toriya twirled around in a second state of surprise. Once again, they maintained eye contact, and a sort of understanding passed between them. Without a word, Toriya comprehended what Gaara wanted but couldn't say: he accepted her decision.

She smiled, this time a relieved one.

Then she set off toward Snow Country.

* * *

**A/N**: I'M STILL LAMENTING THE LOSS OF DEIDARA. (hides in a corner and sobs) And yet I leave him out of my story. FILTHY HYPOCRITE!!!!!!! O.O (dodges a rain of poisoned kunai and runs away)

I am lame. Do ignore me. After you review, of course. O : )


	9. Snow

**Chapter 9: Snow**

**A/N**: In reference to the first _Naruto_ movie, the generator in Snow Country is not yet fixed; it's still winter.

* * *

It was snowing.

Toriya had actually never seen snow before. At first, the white substance falling gently from the gray skies above had been beautiful, tranquil, and welcoming. Snowflakes hung onto wisps of her brown hair, and she felt like the only person in the entire white world of silence. Occasionally, the fuzzy snout of an arctic fox or the alert eyes of a white rabbit would snuffle its way out of the shady woods but would disappear when Toriya tried to get a second look, as though the sight was all but an apparition. And she would continue her walk in solace.

When the lazy snow whipped into a malicious storm, she shivered in her winter coat (purchased before entering Snow Country, as she had never needed such a thick coat in her life before) and began to curse the freezing temperature and mushy snow that made her walking difficult and traveling a pain. This was one of the times when she wished she could control fire; wind, earth, and water were practically innocuous against the raw cold, although earth jutsu could create a pathetic sort of shelter against only the icy blasts.

Finally, after braving days of hail and snow and wishing that Tsumemaru's wings could endure the cold to give her a comfortable lift, she reached Yukigakure in a tattered mood. At the sight of the village, she immediately perked up.

There was a gorgeous palace on a snow-covered butte in the distance, twinkling like a dainty sculpture. At its feet were rows of houses with snow-covered roofs: it looked a tranquil winter land with frosted gingerbread houses and a sugarcane castle. A few children, bundled in scarves and thick clothing, were frolicking outside their houses; one of the boys was hit by a flying snowball and plopped into the snow, crying in shame and surprise.

She approached an old lady supervising the children.

"Excuse me, baa-san. Is there a boy here who has a demon inside him?"

"A demon boy?" the old lady said in surprise. "You must mean Tokage Shiro. No one dares to approach him. He constantly comes and attacks us. Scares the poor children half to death!"

"Does he…" Toriya murmured. "Where can I find him?"

"You mean to seek such a dangerous boy? If you must, he lives in that cave over yonder."

Toriya glanced at where her finger was pointing. There, in the craggy body of a towering snow-covered mountain, was a crevice. She thanked the old lady and then hurried toward the said cave, the lady's distasteful words of fear ringing in her ears.

_Well, Tokage Shiro can't be worse than Gaara_, she thought grimly.

Upon reaching the cave, she peeked inside and saw nothing but darkness and nebulous shapes that could either be human or rocks.

"Good day, Shiro-kun. Are you there?"

Silence, then—

BOOM.

Toriya staggered backwards, reeling in shock as rocks the size of her head sailed past her. She jumped out of the way just as a huge webbed foot struck the ground where she had been.

"Shiro-kun, there's no need to be so violent," she said, trying to appease him while dodging more falling rocks.

BOOM.

Now a long tail whipped towards her. Apparently, Shiro didn't get the message. Toriya sighed.

"_Nee_, Shiro-kun," she called out, "I don't want to fight you, but I'll use force if I must to make you listen to me."

BOOM.

Now a burst of snow as a result of the flailing tail came flying her way.

_Force it is, then._

She made some hand seals and pressed her right fingers toward the ground.

"Doton: Splitting Earth Jutsu!"

A gashing line stretched its way toward the mountain, and with a giant roar, the wave of snow dispersed and the mountain cracked in two, caving into the attacker inside.

Snow and rocks swirled everywhere. A giant, white, scaly lizard with gleaming orange eyes stampeded out and lashed out its tail like a whip, sending a rain of snow, more rocks, and Toriya flying.

Without hesitation, the lizard proceeded to open its pointed mouth and released a hail of icicles the size of terriers toward Toriya, who quickly responded with Futon: Sonic Wave Jutsu. Again, she was surprised, this time at how her solidified air rings shot through the large icicles almost without difficulty…

Toriya understood immediately.

She flickered under the lizard and delivered a devastating blow towards its soft belly.

"ROOAAAWWRGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

And with a deafening roar that shook the snow from all trees in the vicinity, gobi turned into a boy no older than eight with tousled silvery white hair. There were scratches and bruises all over his arms, legs, and face, and his eyes (as orange as the gobi's, Toriya noticed) were blazing with detest and fury. She was a head taller than he was, which cheered her up because she hated to be shorter.

She grinned at him in complacent victory.

"So you're Shiro-kun, eh? I guess your transformation is all size but no substance."

Shiro simply glared at her.

Later, in another cave not far from the recently collapsed mountain, Toriya mulling over the drastic geographical change while healing a disgruntled Shiro.

"There, all better," Toriya said, patting Shiro, who was now bruise-less and scratch-less.

He ignored her, instead choosing to sullenly look outside the cave at the white snow. Toriya in turn was watching the boy, how his hair was the same color as snow and—

"Shiro-kun, why do you hate people so much?"

"…"

"That's fine if you won't tell me…but, you know, the villagers are afraid of you."

"Hmph, they deserve it," Shiro said scornfully. "They always treat me so badly just because a lizard demon is inside me."

From past experiences, Toriya knew it was prudent to wait patiently.

"My parents and sister died in an avalanche that the demon lizard caused," Shiro continued, still staring outside. "The medic from the palace sealed gobi inside me, sacrificing himself in the process. But it was a hasty seal. I get sudden violent urges and start attacking people. Everyone shunned me. I passed my childhood struggling to survive in the streets.

"Then kids started to bully me. They called me a monster and jeered in my face. I couldn't stand it after a while, and I… lost control of myself."

Shiro buried his head in his raised knees. When he spoke again, his voice was cracked with emotion.

"Then… I fled. I've been living in the wild for so long. It's just... it's not fair! I never asked to carry a demon!!!"

He broke off and began sobbing, his tears dotting the stone ground of the cave. Toriya watched him with pity and guilt, strongly reminded of Gaara.

"I know this boy," Toriya began slowly, "who also has a fearsome bijuu sealed inside him. It was a sand demon that lusted for bloodshed and killing, and everyone ran away from him."

She paused. Shiro was crying silently, but he was listening.

"But then he began to change. He learned the gift of life and how to care for other people. He learned to love and to receive love in return. Eventually, he became the village's leader whom everyone respected rather than feared.

"So you see, Shiro-kun, you still have a chance. If you really want to be accepted, learn how to love. After a while, they'll accept you, and you'll be happy."

"It sounds like a fairy tale ending," Shiro sniffed. He wiped the tears on his face with his sleeve.

"True… but it's a true story. I know him." Toriya smiled. "He's my friend."

Taking in her words, Shiro turned around and faced her. His eyes were puffy from crying, but his orange eyes were glinting with hope.

"Why do you talk to me when no one else does?" he asked in a whisper.

"Well… let's say I want to understand you better," Toriya replied cheerfully. "I can't say that I understand your pain, but I know your distress at being a demon vessel because… well—" Here her voice dropped. "I'm one too."

Shiro hiccupped and stared at her in new reverence.

"The rokubi," Toriya said in response to his silent question.

"Do you think… the village could someday care for me?"

"Of course! You could put that lizard into use. Maybe you could protect the village one day."

"Really?" Shiro's eyes were like small oranges now.

"With training," Toriya added, thinking of his incomplete transformation. "You need to build up some strength behind those attacks."

He smiled feebly. Toriya could see a kind-hearted boy behind his myopia of pain.

"You remind me of my sister. What's your name, nee-san?"

"Toriya."

He grinned toothily and scrambled to his feet, dragging her along with him outside.

"Let's go, Toriya nee-san!"

Toriya smiled at the little boy.

As she helped Shiro acquaint with the villagers, especially the cautious children (quite easily because Shiro was actually a very bouncy, happy boy outside of his gobi state), she wondered if she should have told him about Akatsuki.

_No_, she thought firmly. _It's better than he doesn't live with that knowledge that S-class criminals are trying to hunt him down and kill him. I'll keep an eye on him using the birds though._

A week later, Toriya prepared to leave Yuki, greatly satisfied that she had saved a poor boy, a fellow jinchuuriki, from misery.

"Toriya nee-san!"

She turned and greeted Shiro, who was running towards her, a small lumpy package clutched in his hand.

"Toriya nee-san," he panted when he reached her, "I want to thank you for helping me. I think I understand what you were saying."

"That's good, Shiro-kun. Just remember to not lose control of yourself."

"I'll try! Oh, and I wanted to give you this…"

He opened the package to reveal a crystal necklace. The cerulean jewel was shimmering like a tiny chunk of the ocean under the gray sunlight, reflecting an illusion of a sky a shade so achingly blue that it felt like home.

_Home… Mizuiro mean "sky blue," Toriya-chan. We are the masters of the blue sky. We yield the power of wind._

An overwhelming sensation suddenly clutched Toriya's heart and lungs. It billowed and swelled until she let out a breath she wasn't aware she had been holding.

_The wind and the sky are your friends, your family._

"This belonged to nee-san," Shiro said, bright-eyed, "but I want to have it because you've been like a sister to me."

_Sister… Family…_

Toriya took the necklace with slightly trembling fingers.

_Protect your family._

"Arigatou, Shiro-kun," she murmured.

The crystal felt blissfully cold against her warm hands. As she gazed at the shiny necklace, snow began to fall again, drifting down from the heavens onto the winter world below like fairies. She looked up and thought that the day had never been more beautiful.

* * *

**Glossary**:

Gobi – Five-Tail (haha **Gobi** Desert)

Tokage – lizard

Shiro – white

**A/N**: Rejoice! I'm done marinating the plot and compressing chains of events into only a few chapters. These might seem like random detours, but they will pop up again later. In the meantime, I shall return to the main road of the story, starting with the next chapter. I still don't own _Naruto_.

Now, I don't like to request for an _x_ number of reviews before posting the next chapter, but do drop one off because I enjoy reading comments from my readers. I don't bite. Happy August!


	10. Encounter

**Chapter 10: Encounter**

**A/N**: Ah, so I've been putting off this chapter because 1) the last chapter didn't end on a cliffhanger, 2) I've been anime/manga-ing during my free time instead of writing, and 3) I had no computer access for a few days… yes, the horror! But enough of my woes; read and enjoy:

* * *

Somewhere in the Land of Red Beans, Toriya sat under the cloth roof of a little café, munching happily on her lunch (red bean soup, red bean pork chops, and red bean noodles with a dash of the local specialty: curry red bean paste, quite zesty). Her black sandals, fashioned and elongated at the lower thigh to look like boots, danced along the top wisps of the sandy ground as she idly hummed a tune.

"Tsumemaru-sama," she said to the dark brown hawk, shrunk down from his usual size, "have some red bean pork chops."

"Why is everything in this country red bean-based," he grumbled.

"Stop complaining and don't be picky; it's food. Now eat."

And she proceeded to stuff a large chunk of meat into Tsumemaru's beak.

Paying no attention to the poor hawk's choking sounds, Toriya fingered the crystal necklace that Shiro had given her and wondered if the boy was doing fine. Atsui-baa, the old lady to whom she had talked prior to seeking Shiro in his cave, had assured her that she would look after Shiro. However, Toriya could not help worrying about the Akatsuki-nin assigned to capture the gobi. For that reason, Toriya had followed a trail of clues, based on alerts from the robot birds, to the small Land of Red Beans, hoping to find some members of Akatsuki.

Just then, amidst the peaceful bustling of the village, a man suddenly shouted, "STOP, YOU MONGRELS!!"

Any rudely yelling man would have attracted the attention of a crowd, and, sure enough, there congregated a healthy congregation of people. Curiously, Toriya stood up from her table (Tsumemaru was still struggling to unstuck his beak) and joined the commotion. Upon catching a sight of the incident between the heads of two balding men, she couldn't resist a smirk.

It was a queer sight to behold: the shouting man, donned in a green apron and a white outfit bruised with black stains, was apparently angry at two other people, wearing straw hats and very familiar black cloaks with red clouds, for not paying lunch.

Toriya never thought she would see the day when Itachi and Kisame (made apparent by the infamous popsicle sword), two S-class criminals wanted by many great countries, were being accused of a petty crime as not paying for a simple meal of red beans.

Consciously, Toriya quickly tossed the exact amount of money onto her table. While Tsumemaru, having finally managed to consume the pork chop, flew to Toriya's shoulder in irritation, she concentrated a mass of compressed wind in her hand before—

BOOM.

The wind sphere, like the one in Orochimaru's base, exploded between the three men. As dust and leaves swirled wildly in the atmosphere of confusion, Toriya pulled Itachi and Kisame away from the scene and into the nearby woods.

"It's been a while, eh," Toriya said smugly, echoing Itachi's favorite greeting phrase.

She serenely brushed the dust off her blue top, ignoring Itachi's cold gaze of scorn and Kisame's grunted thanks.

"Why are you here, Toriya-chan?" Itachi said tonelessly, not betraying his inner annoyance at having his words being stolen.

"Do I need a reason to be here?" she replied casually. "Perhaps I'm merely passing by. I seem to be rather taken by traveling around these days. I've heard the red beans here are rather scrumptious."

"That's because they _only_ have red beans here…" Tsumemaru muttered in an undertone.

"Well, anyway, I'd better be off," Toriya said. "Be thankful that I saved you from not paying for lunch." She gave a small wave and disappeared in a flicker but not before stealthily planting a small black bird on the back part of Kisame's neckband.

"Should we go after her, Itachi-san?" Kisame said.

"No," Itachi said. "You have already captured yonbi, and I am assigned to the kyuubi. We have no business with her."

"Yes, yes, I suppose you're right…"

They took a path and disappeared into the dappled shadows.

**x-x-x-x-x**

"Akatsuki," the daimyo of the Land of Red Beans said with a slightly mournful air, "I am pleased you have come." **A/N: For those of you who read/watch **_**Fullmetal Alchemist**_**, think of the daimyo looking like Yoki. And I don't own FMA.**

Itachi and Kisame entered the house of the daimyo and sat down, the former wearing a look of indifferent boredom and the latter staring at the fish in the aquarium with deep interest.

"I cannot thank you enough to offering to accept this mission at such a low rate," the daimyo continued in the same tone. "I am very honored, very much so."

"What is the mission?" Itachi said coldly, dearly wanting the bewailing old man to get to the point.

"I'm glad you asked."

The daimyo smile meagerly and adjusted his velvet clothing with a flourish (Itachi's hand was on the verge of reaching for his kunai at this point).

"Your mission is to assassinate the daimyo of the Land of Green Beans." (Here he gave another mournful sigh.) "Without the head, they body cannot survive. The nearby green beans business is interfering with ours, and everyone knows that red beans are distinctly superior."

He gave the two Akatsuki-nin a watery look of gratitude while stroking his long gray beard.

"Understood."

Itachi and Kisame stood up, bowed, and left the house of the daimyo in a flicker.

**x-x-x-x-x**

A few hours later, the two Akatsuki-nin were making their silent ways along the dark corridors of the house of the daimyo of the Land of Green Beans.

"Keh, that was easier than I'd thought. Ah, come off it, Itachi-san," Kisame added in response to his partner's stony silence, "don't look so sour that I had the honor of making the last blow."

Itachi gave him a sharp glare that quickly refocused its attention on their surroundings. They both skidded to a stop. For a few moments, nothing could be heard except for the rustling of the ginkgo leaves in the wind and the soft hooting of an owl.

Then figures clad in midnight black clothes stepped out from the cover of the shadows. They all wore deathly masks of hatred on their dark faces, and they all were wielding swords that shimmered silver in the moonlight and that ached to eat into flesh.

Itachi and Kisame stood in the middle of it all, watching slow waves of new angry guards close in.

They were surrounded.

* * *

**A/N**: I was just thinking, well, if there's a Land of Red Beans, why not a Land of Green Beans? It just popped into my head. XD

_Naruto_ (c) Kishimoto


	11. Instinctive Decision

**Chapter 11: Instinctive Decision**

* * *

In one swift motion, Itachi made the hand seals for a Goukakyu and released the fire ball towards the leering guards. Around a dozen of them sizzled to the ground, but now the remaining ones were quite livid and began charging toward Itachi and Kisame. Nimbly, the Akatsuki-nin jumped to the roof and began running. They were nearing the safety of the wooded area when a rain of arrows pelted the night air and threatened to puncture their bodies. 

"They're so damn persistent," Kisame growled, swiping the arrows away with his Samehada.

A deep rumbling sound entered the clamorous fray. Itachi glanced up just as muddy brown vines, as thick as anaconda, burst forth the feet of the trees. They writhed upwards and outwards, giant worms with rugged thorns emerging from the soil after a morning rain. Twisting and turning, the vines entwined themselves around the gate and with each other until there was an enormous mass of a vine forest resting in front of the daimyo's house.

"It's Toriya-chan," Itachi said, recognizing the earth chakra patterns with his Sharingan.

Without another words, he and Kisame bounded inside the vine forest. The guards emitted horribly shrill shrieks of rage and proceeded to chase after them.

It was difficult enough to simply avoid the protruding thorns, the smallest of which was roughly the size of the average human arm. The task of making one's way through the vine forest appeared to be even trickier than usual. After twenty minutes of bounding among the vines and (strangely) lazily floating feathers, no one seemed to be able to exit it despite the fact that the moonlit opening was tauntingly close ahead.

"Genjutsu," Itachi murmured as another scream of pain of being stabbed by a thorn came from somewhere behind them. "These floating feathers are creating the illusion."

"Then Itachi-san should be able to easily see through it, yea?" Kisame grinned, though personally wondering why his partner didn't see it before. Were his eyes getting even worse?

Itachi suddenly pounced to the left.

"HEY, Itachi-san!" Kisame bellowed. "At least give me advance warning!!"

Straining his eyes, Itachi, with Kisame at his heels, dove through a tunnel that led straight into the ground, rushing past the damp stench of rotting material in the dark deep mounds of decaying dirt and plummeting into an endless abyss of aching cold and nothingness clawing mercilessly at them…

"Yo."

Kisame blinked.

They were standing in the gloriously bright and warm beam of the moon. As Itachi daintily plucked a few specks of dirt from his sleeve, Kisame peered behind them and saw that they had exited the vine forest. In front of them, Toriya, who had spoken earlier, was sitting casually on a rock.

"Took you two long enough," she said, her hands still positioned in a hand seal to keep the genjutsu functioning.

"Well, it was a rather tricky technique," Kisame remarked, "but why did you rescue us?"

Toriya made a few hand seals, and the vine forest collapsed back to the earth in a muddy heap. The shocked yelps of the guards still inside the forest could be heard from the immense pile. Itachi watched her actions calmly with his regular black eyes; it had been slightly painful to use the Sharingan this time.

"Do I need a reason?" Toriya said, pointedly not looking at Itachi's piercing gaze. "And don't worry; I didn't kill the remaining ones."

"It would be more convenient if you did," Kisame said.

"Then you go kill them with your popsicle stick."

"MY SAMEHADA IS NOT A POPSICLE!!!"

Ignoring the bulging eyes and outburst of the shark man, Toriya serenely hopped off the rock.

"How did you know our whereabouts, Toriya-chan?" Itachi finally asked.

She pointed at Kisame, and the black mechanical bird on his back fluttered to her outstretched hand.

"Neither of you noticed that I had planted this small bird on Kisame," she explained. "It's a device that lets me hear and see what's happening, and apparently you two were overwhelmed back at the daimyo's house. Now you really owe me for rescuing you twice.

"Now, I think it's time to go find somewhere to rest…"

"Where are we going?" Kisame asked grouchily, still seething at the insult to his pride and joy sword.

"Back to the Land of Red Beans," Itachi answered monotonously as though it were obvious. "We need to collect our payment tomorrow."

Toriya watched the two of them head off towards the said destination in the east. With satisfaction, she reflected upon the sufficient amount of information she had collected: Akatsuki was currently building up the organization's finances by offering to complete missions at low rates. Drastically lower rates, in fact; Toriya estimated that Suna would have taken the mission at four times the price Akatsuki had accepted.

She looked down at the black bird in her hand. In her mind, she saw the bird's image of herself, her brown eyes clouded with indecision. She closed her eyes and smiled.

"Heh, well why not."

Toriya lifted the bird into the air and let it fly eastwards, its little wings beat the air like those of a dragonfly. Its small study body rose and fell in gentle vicissitudes in the nighttime breeze as the sleek, cold blades of grass below it swayed in almost the same rhythm.

The earth was alive.

Toriya's earth chakra pulsed along with it. It was very faint and discreet, but it was in tune, a perfect clock ticking its mechanical functions second by second. The black bird melted into the darkness, still carrying out its mechanical life, tick by tick, as programmed by Toriya.

She never believed in fate; life was not an explicit set of instructions to follow moment by moment. She never made any rash decisions either.

But now, in the middle of the field, Toriya ran eastwards. Her boots padded against the earthy sponges.

She had no idea what compelled her to follow Itachi and Kisame, but somehow, perhaps, she could find something by following this path.

* * *

**A/N**: I love rambling with words.

_Naruto_ (c) Kishimoto


	12. Lure

**Chapter 12: Lure**

**A/N**: I promised myself and Transient Shadow that I would finally update this weekend. SO HERE IT IS. Isn't everyone so proud of me:D. I hadn't written in such a long time that I actually wrote three chapters in succession. I'm on a roll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rolls are good. I like chocolate-flavored ones.

* * *

Itachi thought it was a perfectly perfect day, quite peaceful, as a matter of fact, with the world being blissfully calm until—

"STOP CALLING IT A POPSICLE!"

Kisame's loud voice rudely punctuated the humming tranquility of the morning; Itachi's eyebrows lowered themselves by the merest half millimeter, which was an apparent sign that he was annoyed. Not something one would see every day.

"Then get rid of all those bandages!" scoffed Toriya in return. "It certainly looks like a giant popsicle."

"It's meant to _protect_ Samehada."

"And make it look funny as hell. I'm surprised your opponents aren't dying from laughter."

Itachi sighed as Kisame and Toriya's continuous rows resumed their tempo. Why Toriya had ever chosen to join them was a complete mystery to him. In an attempt to alleviate the developing effects of a pounding headache, Itachi closed his eyes and tried to shut his mind from the rest of the world.

"Itachi-san, where are we going?" Kisame asked suddenly.

The Sharingan user was thrust out of his thoughts, and as he snapped his black eyes open, he belatedly realized that the bickering had wonderfully stopped.

"The Land of Honey," he answered shortly, not bothering to elucidate that they had another mission there.

He suspected that Kisame had hastily asked the question in order to break away from the arguments, as futile and pointless as they were. But Toriya seemed to enjoy pushing all of Kisame's buttons, as the shark man was always rankled by insolent comments to his sword. (In spite of all his eye-closing and suppressed sighs, Itachi was secretly elated at his partner's sufferings, if one could call them that way, even though he would never admit it. Call it an evilly morbid mind.) At this, Itachi stole a glance at the said kunoichi, who was absentmindedly gazing at a nearby creek. Seeing the shimmers of the water reflected in her eyes, he realized suddenly, with a mysterious shortage of breath, how beautiful her visual orbs were.

As though sensing his stare, Toriya peered sideways at him. Their eyes met, and they maintained the contact for a second. Two seconds. Too long.

She quickly tore her eyes away and walked away, muttering something about getting water for her canteen. Itachi on the other hand calmly returned his gaze on the path in front of him without missing another beat.

"Don't be too long," Kisame called after her as he and Itachi turned a corner around some elm trees.

The Suna kunoichi responded with a vague wave of her hand and approached the creek she had been observing earlier. As the sunlight continued to reflect on the water in glowing batches, Toriya's dazed head was spinning.

_What's wrong with me_, she thought furiously.

Upon reaching the tidy banks of the creek with a huff, she knelt down and stared into the water. The reflection of a teenage girl with a bemused face and bright brown eyes peered back, a perfect mirror that somehow did not look like her. The image of Itachi's dark eyes swam hazily in her mind, and she remembered that she had seen something within the black depths that usually betrayed no expression. The merest stirring that brought the hints of a faint glint and brought life to his emotionless eyes. What was it?

Completely dissembling her usual guard, Toriya was too distracted in the flurry of her bustling thoughts to notice a shadow descend upon her. By the time she realized the figure that was lurking surreptitiously behind her, it had knocked her out cold and bounded away, carrying with it her limp body.

**x-x-x-x-x**

"She sure is taking a long time," remarked Kisame, still walking with Itachi down the path and unaware of the events unfolding beyond the trees they had passed.

"Hn."

"Ha ha, is that all you have to say, Itachi-san?" Kisame said with his toothy, sharky grin glinting mischievously. "I noticed that you were looking at her out of the corner of your eye…"

Itachi merely glanced at his partner with a look of boredom and was saved from responding when a kunai flew and struck the ground in front of them, a puff of dust rising lazily in its wake. Picking it up, he noticed a note latched onto the circular end of the black knife:

_**We have the girl. Come meet us at the Cattail Inn at the border between the Land of Green Beans and the Land of Honey.**_

"The Green Beans guards have Toriya-chan?" Kisame said in surprise, reading the note over Itachi's shoulder. "I didn't think she would be taken away so easily."

Itachi said nothing and set the note on fire with a swift katon. He then tucked the kunai into his sack and resumed his silent walk without a backwards glance at Kisame or the shriveling fiery paper.

"Itachi-san! Oi, ITACHI-SAN!"

The Uchiha prodigy wordlessly turned his head slightly.

"Are we going to save her?" Kisame asked.

Itachi chose not to answer. Letting out a gruff sigh in resignation, the former Kiri-nin scurried to follow his partner.

"Where are we going now, Itachi-san?"

"The Cattail Inn," Itachi answered, still showing no emotions.

Kisame, however, grinned another sharky grin.

* * *

**A/N**: Hmm, this chapter was a little too fast-paced for my taste. Any comments about this?

_Naruto_ (c) Kishimoto


	13. Self Reliance

**Chapter 13: ****Self-Reliance**

**A/N**: YAY, I ACED MY 70-TERM POETRY TEST . I am certainly not gloating! (ahem) Speaking of which, I'm trying a sort of writing where I reveal motives and the past in little bits (aka flashbacks and wonderful chunks of thoughts). It's a literary style that my English literature teacher talked about and that I found interesting. So bear with me!

* * *

When Toriya finally came to, she found herself lying head down in a dilapidated shack and staring face to face with the glittering eyes of a fuzzy spider roughly the size of a rat. Yelping in shock, she sat straight up and immediately regretted her impulsive action; she was aching all around her arms and torso from being harshly thrown to the hard ground. 

"They're so rough," Toriya muttered, leaning against the wall.

She took care not to touch an old cart that looked as though it would break down into countless particles of wooden dust at any moment. She vaguely recalled that her capturer was a guard from the Land of Green Beans because she had seen his face before through her sharp, raptor-like eyes before. Sighing a little, Toriya set her mind into a strategizing mode.

It appeared she now had two options.

First of all, she could sit on the musty floor of the old shack and wait for someone to rescue her. It was quite reasonable, as a matter of fact, to choose this option, as her arms and ankles were bound tightly with a thick rope that cut into her flesh where angry red welts would have inevitably formed. Suddenly, she wondered if Itachi and Kisame would even bother to come save her. She had, after all, joined with them against their wishes in her attempt to find out more about Akatsuki through a close approach without their knowledge. It was all part of her brilliant spying plan.

Except for this kidnapping part, of course. Quite unfortunate.

She moved and scuffled her feet on the rotting ground, causing the dust to swirl in the heavy air. Like sand particles, rising in little puffs of golden powder _under the scathing sun that seemed to even mock her incompetence. The blood from the sword wound from mishandling her katana trickled slowly down her arm like a single crimson tear drop. The gash was crying, she was crying. _

"_It hurts," she whimpered._

"_Don't be a useless little girl." snapped baa-sama. _

"_I can't…"_

"_For many generations, the women of the Mizuiro clan have been trained from dawn until dusk until they could not differentiate between the blood and sweat that they shed. The ground where the mingled liquids fell was the very earth upon which they battled and fought. No rains come to Suna, but our sweat and blood provided the nutrients for which these shrubs grow."_

_The wound was writhing and crying._Why can't the sky cry too?

"_Do not shame us, Toriya. Now get up." _

_The blood and tears mixed. One drop. Two drops. The barren ground moistened but quickly hardened back to its original dry state. Shuddering breath. Her resolve gathered. _

_Just a bit more. Just give me one more chance. Just one more time._

_The katana sliced through the muggy air__ and hit the mark._

Mizuiro Toriya was no useless damsel in distress.

And so she opted for the second option, which was very simple: to get out of the shack.

Toriya shifted her wrists and began to focus on extending a slice of hardened wind in her right thumb. With the spider (now skittering away back to its web) as her only living companion in the shack, Toriya slowly cut away at the fibers of the rope with the wind talon.

- - - - - - - - - -

"So you've come, Akatsuki," sneered the head guard from the Land of Green Beans.

Or at least he appeared to be the leader, Itachi idly noted, since he stood aloof in front of the mutinous crowd of armored men that wore parallel expressions of vindictive joy and stormy resentment. The Cattail Inn sat innocently behind the army of guards.

"Come to take your girl back, eh?"

The most miniscule flash of irritation passed through Itachi's eyes, but his voice was as monotonous and decorous as ever.

"We merely came to take care of some business that we failed to accomplish last time," he replied.

"I knew we should have killed them off when we had the chance," Kisame growled.

The head guard laughed, a deep throaty noise that scuttled along the ground like the spider in the shack.

"Ah, those fools who thoughtlessly entered the thorn forest? They're useless in the injured state as they are. These men are the secondary forces, the ones meant to protect the heart of the house if necessary. They were trained day and night in preparation for the most challenging conditions. Their hearts are hardened, and their bodies likewise as tough as stone. You see their shining armors: a mark of our steely determination to carry out our noble duties and defend our land with the greatest honor we could possess. One could die—literally—for the sake of preserving and gaining such honor. We have undergone the most rigorous testing and training, through blazing weathers and harsh sleeting rains, across rugged mountains and soggy marshes. Men bow before us in deep admiration and worship! We very well deserve our grand appearance and significant positions; we have proved it!

"And now they stand behind me—" A maniac glint appeared in his eyes. "—ready to take revenge upon our dear daimyo and—"

He suddenly stopped in the middle of his rhetoric, and it was immediately apparent why: the earth was trembling while a roaring flood of muddy water proceeded to surge their way in wild brown gushes. Itachi and Kisame instinctively jumped to the roofs of the inn, but the guards were less lucky; carried downstream, some of them managed to grip onto the bark of nearby trees while others drifted further down the road turned river. The water quickly sank back into the depths of the earth as though the ground was desperate to slake its thirst, and soon all there was left was a soggy road, now the perfect playground for the late Deidara with all its wet clay.

"You shouldn't underestimate me, sir," came Toriya's voice as she landed gracefully in front of the head guard, who was lying on the ground and spluttering in disbelief.

"Like the Muddy Flood Jutsu?" Toriya said serenely. "It only works if the user has a vast amount of chakra. I do hope you enjoyed it because it's not everyday you get to meet a shinobi with such an ability."

"What the…" he gasped, "How the hell did you escape?"

Toriya continued to retain her peaceful smile.

"As I've said, guard-san," she said cheerfully, "you shouldn't underestimate me. And also—"

Kisame started slightly when Toriya's light mood abruptly dampened into a tempestuous one, and she slammed the guard against the wall of the inn in a speedy action, clutching him by the throat.

"I hate it when people take females as hostages," she said in a soft but dangerous tone. "We can take care of ourselves, thank you very much."

The guard squeaked and stammered incoherently. Itachi saw Toriya's eyes glimmer slightly into a golden shade before she released her strong grasp on the guard. Gasping and rubbing his neck tenderly, the terrified man slid to the ground.

"Don't come after us again," Toriya said as she turned away from him with a hawkish glare, "lest my hand slips a little and slits that throat of yours."

The poor man's gaze slid involuntarily to the sheathed blade on her lower right leg and before looking up at her with wide, glassy eyes dilated with fear. He simply lowered his head a tiny fraction to display his comprehension.

Itachi observed the entire scene with a certain amount of interest, never having seen this side of her. He was vaguely amused; at least he now knew Toriya could defend herself. Kisame chuckled.

"All this worrying for nothing, eh," the Kiri swordsman sighed.

* * *

**A/N**: Toriya is bipolar XD 

_Naruto_ (c) Kishimoto


	14. Scarlet Sky

**Chapter 14: Scarlet Sky**

**A/N**: (_insert the typical student's excuse for not updating in a long time_) Ahem, you know what I mean. THEN I rewrote this chapter because I didn't like the original, and it went on this humongous evolutionary chain that kept making me unsatisfied!!!! Rawrrrr. So yes, here's the end result. And lastly, a mountainous mound of gratitude to my two faithful readers and reviewers RebelFlame and Transient Shadow as well as to no-one-to-love-me for acknowledging my story. Spread the love! May your writings be forever fruitful.

* * *

A few hours later when Itachi and Kisame had finished their mission in the Land of Honey, Toriya stepped outside the lodge in which they (in actuality the said Akatsuki pair; Toriya preferred to find a tree branch outside) were resting for the night. The sliding door led straight out to the smooth floor and the open space that nestled itself in a charming little garden.

All's well that ends well. Toriya was satisfied with how the events of the day had turned out; in fact, she was quite surprised that Itachi and Kisame had taken some time out of their busy lives to come to the inn. That was apt to invoke some suspicion; while Toriya did not fully understand their motives (they could potentially receive new orders to capture her again), she would raise her high guard even higher now.

And not get distracted by a certain pair of dark eyes again, she reminded herself in strict admonition.

She breathed in the fresh smell of honey glistening under the dimming tendrils of rosy twilight amidst the soothing lull of the crickets' chirps. It was a seductive sense, a sweet yet devastating nymph playfully lingering just beyond the folds of the shadows, or perhaps a weasel slipping in and out of the specters of the earth in a flicker of auburn fur and green grass. And speaking of weasels…

Uchiha Itachi was sitting quietly, partially hidden in the growing shadows, on the steps of the wooden floor.

Toriya started in sheer astonishment when she realized that Itachi was sitting on the floor within arm's reach of her; she had not been expecting to see him outside. He turned his head until she could see the red glow of the dusk sun reflected in his black eyes.

"Good evening, Toriya-chan," he said calmly.

_Polite as ever, Itachi-SAN_, she thought dryly as she returned his greeting.

As she had no desire to find a tree branch or return indoors, Toriya was left with one option.

"Mind if I join you?"

"…"

She took his lack of speech as an affirmation and edgily plopped down a good five feet away from him. The swelling silence, save for the crickets, suddenly became unbearable. In an attempt to break the surface of the layers of awkwardness, Toriya stabbed at an opportunity to break into conversation.

"It's a beautiful sunset."

"Yes."

Toriya was utterly shocked that she received a response, however long its length, because she had not expected to receive an answer from the extremely taciturn Uchiha.

"It's a scarlet sunset too…" she added, her voice trailing off into the distance and the misty depths of her memories.

"_Toriya, have you heard the legend of Asa-hime and Taiyou?"_

_She scowled, folding her arms across her chest._

"_Tou-san," she pouted, "if this is another mushy fairytale, then you don't have to tell me about it."_

_Mizuiro Tsukasa chuckled at his daughter's ignorance._

"_Ahh, but this is more than just a fairytale," he said. "It has some amount of wisdom in it."_

_She tilted her head sideways and stared dubiously at her father._

"_Try me, then," she said after a brief pause._

"_Very well," Tsukasa said with a smiling, his hazel eyes crinkling on his tanned skin._

_He took another sip of green tea from his cup and closed his eyes, seeming to enjoy the warm bitter taste of his drink on the cold sandstorm night._

"_It all began with a beautiful princess named Asa-hime," Tsukasa said as he regarded the raging particles of swirling sand outside the glass window._

"_Her name meant 'morning' because she was as beautiful as the land on the brink of sunrise, bathed in golden sunlight and glowing in all its splendor of dawn. She had many suitors, none of whom satisfied her, for she had set a standard that required all challengers to dive into the setting sun beyond the hills and across the lakes and come back out alive. All of them failed._

"_One day, during a sunset the color of the most perfect rubies, a dashing man named Taiyou approached Asa-hime, claiming that he could accomplish the task. And so he went beyond the hills and across the lakes and dove into the setting sun. Nothing was heard of him for a long time._

"_Then, exactly two years later, Taiyou returned to the castle one day in exactly the same clothes and condition as he had been when he first approached Asa-hime. Needless to say, the princess was deeply impressed by the man's courage and strength and immediately fell in love with him. They were married soon afterwards. _

"_And because of this legend of Asa-hime and Taiyou, it's been a saying that you will meet your true love when the twilight sun is set in a scarlet sky the color of rubies."_

_She goggled at her father when he indicated the end of the story with another sip of his tea._

"_That's exactly the kind of lame fairytale I was talking about," she said crossly. "It's so meaningless."_

"_Toriya, Toriya…" Tsukasa sighed. "You'll understand in time why we cherish such stories."_

_And he sipped his tea again._

Emerging out of her reverie, Toriya forced herself to forget about the stab of sorrow that always came with her memories of home and chanced a sideways glance at Itachi, who now was staring right at the sunset. Wondering what was he thinking about, Toriya found herself to be frustrated again that she could not easily decipher the body language and connotations of Uchiha Itachi. Did he also hear of the same legend as she did? Perhaps she could ask…

"Itachi? Why do you add honorifics to my name?"

A completely random question that had nothing to do with her original intent. She still did not believe in such pointless epiphanies.

Now she could explicitly read the frozen stillness of his entire body: he was actually taken aback by the spontaneity. He blinked once and slanted his eyes toward her.

"It's more proper," he finally replied, a little stiffly.

"Oh… but I prefer simply 'Toriya'…"

"Good night, Toriya-chan."

And up he left, steering himself back into the hotel room, leaving Toriya to stare blankly at his retreating back.

Itachi had been slightly rattled.

She smirked into the scarlet sky. Perhaps there was more than what meets the eye.

* * *

**A/N**: The legend is BS purely made up by none other than moi. Diving in the sun and returning alive? Anyone accomplishing such a feat would be burned to a crisp. Actually, they would probably just sizzle into nothingness because the sun is too hot. I don't think the _Naruto_ world has rockets either to enable them to "dive" into the sun. I'm thinking too much...

_Naruto_ (c) Kishimoto


	15. Premonition

**Chapter 15: Premonition**

**A/N**: Super thanks and lots of Kisame plushies to Veladriel Vieens, inner.fatty, RebelFlame, vnienhuis, Transient Shadow, and Kairai for reading and acknowledging!

* * *

_She runs down the dusty path, letting fly wispy puffs of sand in her wake. Breaths come in intermittent intervals. In. Out. Pause. In. Pause. Out._

_Trembling. She is afraid. But what of_—

_The darkness. The nighttime that envelopes everything in its black blindfolds under a starless and moonless night. A new moon. Dead silence._

_Or so it seems._

_She stops. A scream, chilling and terrified, rings out into the hollow night and presses fear into every soul and every sense it touches._

Who is it—?

_Suddenly a dark figure stumbles across the path. The face is darkened by shadows. There is an acrid sensation of terror in the air. With a mocking laughter, an invisible arm slices the body in half. A splatter of blood hurls out from the broken ribcage, bones laced with fresh blood still evident from the torn flesh. The tender heart, caught in mid-beat, trembles, freezes and wails in silent agony and then trembles like a wounded animal until it lies dead and still. Dead and still. Still and dead._

_She cannot resist any longer. She screams in sheer horror. She shuts her eyes from the morbid red sight, thrusting her head away from the scene._

_Run, Toriya. _

What—?

_Run! I'll protect you. _

But…tou-san…

_GO!_

_Her legs manage to unfreeze. She tears her eyes away from the shoulder, spurting raw blood from every fiber of the cleanly-cut muscle._

_She runs, feet pounding on dusty concrete. _

_Her ears throb. Artificial vibrations charged with chakra ensnare her auditory senses. She loses balances. The world tilts likewise: a world of eerie sounds, distorted screams, and pulsing waves. Fluctuations wring her head, and she clutches it in sharpening pain. _

_Someone approaches._

Nii-san?

_Hazily swims into views. _

Nii-san! The clan is under attack—

_Glinted eyes stare icily._

Nii-san?

_One step forward. _

…wh-what's wrong?

_You're weak._

...what are you saying…

_You'll never be strong enough._

No…

_You can't save anyone._

Stop…

_You ran away instead of protecting the clan. You ran away because you couldn't fight off Akatsuki._

NO, STOP IT.

_You ran away because you were afraid of our village. _

SHUT UP YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ME.

_You'll always run away because you won't ever admit your weakness._

_NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO she screams in excruciating frustration and she screams and falls, flailing, falling into an endless vortex of churning darkness and wailing pain and down_ to the ground at the foot of the tree where the ground is soft, loamy, and at least slightly welcoming.

Toriya winced as she sat up from her less-than-graceful fall down from the branch where she had made her nest for the night. **A/N:**_**Not an actual nest; it's a metaphor.**_

Leaning against the trunk of the tree, she pressed her hand against her forehead and shut her eyes.

What had she been dreaming about?

All the details, every sharp feature from the lining of clothing to the specks of dust, had been crystal clear. Now she could barely remember it all, carelessly letting the strands of fading images slip away from her grasp like letting fresh snowflakes melt at the tips of her fingers into mere dews of water, gone.

But it had been a nightmare. A horrible one. Because her head hurt. And she could almost smell the stinging stench of fear and of pain, the bitter smell of death, curdling and rotting with maggots and choking out all feeble signs of life.

And there was a heavy sense of premonition, lurking in the unlighted shadows like a horrible beast biding its time until…

Until what?

Toriya clenched her jaw tightly together and repelled the sense of dread. In order to move forward and get stronger, she must shove these dark thoughts to the remotest corners of her mind.

Time for breakfast!

Stomping her way through the dense foliage of the woods, the kunoichi managed to find her way past the inn and to the nearby village. If there was ever such thing as a perfect day, this would be it. The winds were delightfully crisp yet warm with merry sunshine, and the villagers of the Land of Honey were so… sweet. There was no other word for it: the old lady selling honey buns who had such a wide smile that her eyes were mere happy slits; the little children chattering and dashing in between the rows of vendors in their frolicking antics as they licked their honey rice balls; the women admiring the honey-colored necklaces at the jewelry stands in the middle of their morning grocery shopping; the café owner happily touting his honey-covered steaks with a side of honeycomb potatoes at a special discount price…

As she ate her honey dumplings, Toriya suddenly felt a stab of wistfulness for dusty streets lined likewise with friendly shops and cheerful customers. For clay lumps of brown buildings expertly spread across the floor of a valley protected by jagged peaks and sprawling deserts. For the feel of the blazing sun pounding on her skin as she molded her chakra and disciplined herself to expect the toughest and roughest of circumstances in the middle of the sandy landscape.

Feeling hollow, she sighed. As she finished the rest of her dumplings, she started when an electric static shot through her body. It could only mean one thing: one of her robot birds was alerting her to the distant presence of Akatsuki.

She dashed to the outskirts of the village and performed a complicated series of hand signs before raising her hands in front of her face. With the skill of one mastering the technique over the course of the several long months, Toriya focused and stretched her chakra towards the bird and closed her eyes when a blurry image appeared in her mind.

_Whiteness._

_Snow._

_A yell. A scream. A spurt of blood. A young boy with fear etched in his orange eyes._

_A blue-haired kunoichi in a black cloak shrouded in white fluttering objects._

Then the vision went dark.

The premonition returned in vindictive triumph as Toriya gasped with shocked realization of what was happening in Yukigakure.

Akatsuki was after Shiro.

- - - - - - - - - -

"Hurry, Tsumemaru-sama!" Toriya urged the hawk.

"I'm flying as fast as I can!" he growled in response as he battled the strong layer of winds in the troposphere above the stormy clouds.

"Sorry, sorry…" she mumbled, "I'm just really worried…"

Anxiety was gnawing at her sanity. Toriya prided herself on keeping her cool, but this time she was barely able to bridle her restless concern. Uneasiness tingled throughout her entire body.

How much time had passed?

_I hope Shiro-kun can fend for himself for just a little while longer_, she thought nervously.

It had not been long since she left Yukigakure. When she was thirteen, she had barely escaped from the claws of Akatsuki. Even though she now could fend for herself perfectly well, she had misgivings about poor Shiro, who still could not take full advantage of his potential demonic powers yet.

It was a major problem.

_Why does Akatsuki have to come after us? _

Toriya was deeply pained. To Akatsuki, jinchuuriki seemed to be mere containers to be captured, extracted of the beasts, and then tossed away like old toys. Any affable feelings she once had for Itachi and Kisame were now dissipated in her furious frustration.

_Damn them all!_

"We can't fly well in snowstorms, Toriya-chan," interjected Tsumemaru.

"Fine, fine… just drop me off here," she said wearily.

"What?? Here??"

The hawk lord was startled at what seemed to be her request of plummeting ten kilometers down to earth.

"Baka! Of course not!" Toriya snapped peevishly. "At least lower yourself through the clouds and closer to the earth!!"

Sealing his beak from giving a biting retort, Tsumemaru obediently sank through the clouds and cringed when the unforgiving snow slashed at his wings. Struggling to find a more stable current on which to fly, the hawk began to seriously doubt his Mizuiro partner's ability to think clearly. Surely there were some more prudent ways of saving that Shiro boy?

"Arigatou, Tsu-sama," Toriya called out before jumping out into the air.

"Wait—what?" he spluttered in bewilderment.

As Toriya's figure quickly disappeared into the howling swirls of raging snow, Tsumemaru finally regained clarify of thought and, aside from the disconcerted shock of being dubbed a rather discourteous nickname without his permission, was startled at Toriya's near-suicidal move.

"…she should be okay, right?" he said out loud.

Only the ominous roars of the snowstorm replied to his question.

- - - - - - - - - -

Shiro yelled in pain as the floating streams of white origami paper sliced his arm. The snowstorm should have provided a shield and worked in his advantage, but instead the kunoichi who came to fight him was turning the flurries of snow to his disadvantage. Her strange jutsu of flying origami paper camouflaged perfectly into the weather, and his transformation into the giant gobi simply made him a bigger, easier target.

"Will you come with me now, Shiro-kun?" his blue-haired attacker asked in a low, calm voice that exactly matched her expression.

Shiro struggled to stand steadily as he covered his fresh wound with his other arm. His vision began to grow hazy, but he managed to keep consciousness with all he had.

_I can't die_, he thought desperately. _Someone save me..._

"No, I won't," Shiro finally managed to whisper through his pain. "Toriya-nee-san taught me to protect those I love. And I will not give myself away and leave my village unprotected."

Something odd flickered in the kunoichi's eyes as she gave the slightest indication of a knowing, derisive smile.

"How naïve. But they're noble words. Perhaps I'd like to meet this Toriya one day," she said, raising her hand for another strike.

"Perfect timing, Akatsuki. This is your opportunity to meet me."

Toriya had finally arrived at the scene.

* * *

**A/N**: Whenever I write dramatic scenes and look back to read them, I sound so… lame. (awkwardness!!!!) Do tell me if you're twitching under a mound of cheesiness; I'll try to de-lame-ify myself in future chapters.

_Naruto_ (c) Kishimoto


	16. Seal

**Chapter 16: Seal**

* * *

"Toriya-nee-san!" Shiro cried out in sheer bliss despite the effusive bleeding of the wounds of his legs and arms. "You came!"

Toriya barely gave him a sign of acknowledge in her deathly glare at the blue-haired kunoichi who had injured Shiro so much.

In vague curiosity, the latter kunoichi peered at Toriya, whose face was slightly contorted into a raptor-like expression with cold, gleaming golden eyes.

"Oh? Aren't you the other jinchuuriki of Suna?" the blue-haired kunoichi said calmly.

Toriya retained her glare.

"You're going to pay for this, Akatsuki," she growled. "Who are you?"

"Konan. Not that it matters to you anyway," the other kunoichi replied. "In any case, because my assigned jinchuuriki isn't you but the gobi, I have to ask you to step aside."

Toriya scoffed.

"Over my dead body!"

Konan passively watched Toriya charge blindly at her.

"You make too many unnecessary movements," Konan commented serenely as she stepped aside from Toriya's shuriken attack.

"Tch."

Toriya rotated herself in mid-air and made some hand seals.

"**Futon: Sonic Wave Jutsu!**"

Solidified air rings flew toward Konan. Spreading her giant paper wings, the blue-haired kunoichi soared to safety away from the wind technique.

"You cannot think clearly when you're in such a blind rage, rokubi-chan," Konan said. "Allow me to clear up your mind for you."

With that, she released a rippling wave of marigold flying paper that enveloped Toriya. In response, Toriya drew a kunai and began slashing away at the pillar of papers in annoyance until…

She grimaced.

"My body's not moving…"

What was happening? It could not be genjutsu; the eyes of the rokubi repelled illusions. A hypnosis? No, she was not feeling drowsy. Then—

"A Paralysis Potion," Konan explained nonchalantly. "My special marigold papers have been dipped in my own powerful and unique brand of such a potion. You will be feeling its traces for a week at best."

"A taste of my own medicine, huh…" Toriya said, grinning grimly through gritted teeth in an attempt to retain consciousness as she thought of how she had paralyzed Kisame with her senbon needles long ago.

She suddenly gasped and fell to the snow, cringing as a sudden overwhelming numbness swept through her body, filling every crevice of her senses and control in a cold sweat.

_Shit, it's taking effect so quickly_, she cursed.

"Hm… taken down so easily," Konan mused. "Quite weak, actually. Are you really a jinchuuriki, rokubi-chan?"

"Damn… you…" growled Toriya.

"In any case, I'll be taking this boy here."

Konan scooped up Shiro-kun and she spared Toriya a backwards glance.

"I'm sure we'll meet again. Farewell… rokubi-chan."

And she took flight again on her large white wings.

"Toriya-nee-san!" Shiro screamed, fear infused in his wide orange eyes.

"Shiro…kun…" Toriya whispered.

She couldn't move. She was helpless, trapped. Just like the night _they_ were all killed. No… this couldn't be happening… she had to do something…

_Damn it… Shiro-kun… please… don't die……_ were her last, lingering thoughts before she gave in to the overbearing numbing…

**x-x-x-x-x**

"You say you found her in the snow?" a familiar old female voice echoed dimly within the depths of darkness.

_Where am I…_

"Hai, Atsui-baa-sama," a young male voice answered promptly.

A sigh.

"It must have been a powerful technique," the elderly speaker continued. "It's nearly been three days since we rescued her…"

_Three days…_

"THREE DAYS???" Toriya yelped as she plunged back into consciousness and abruptly sat up in bed.

"It takes three days for Akatsuki to extract the demon from the host!" she rambled. "Oh god oh god oh god what will happen to Shiro-kun! We've got to go find him and rescue him! But only I know where the Akatsuki hideout is… It's in Lake Country, if I remember correctly… one of my mechanical birds managed to find the location and the seal a few months ago. But it's so far away from Snow Country; we won't make it in time. But if we head out now, maybe we can make it. I wonder if Tsumemaru-sama can fly that quickly! Or maybe someone knows a jutsu to teleport people; that would be most efficient, but I highly doubt anyone knows such a jutsu because it's_extremely_ rare. And" —she suddenly noticed all the gawking occupants of the room— "who are you?"

"…"

They merely continued to stare at her.

Toriya flinched as her adrenaline faded and gave way to the persistent tingling of the Paralysis Potion. As she fell back onto the pillow, she suddenly recognized the elderly lady who had promised to look after Shiro.

"Ah, Atsui-baa-sama…"

Atsui started out of her trance and smiled warmly at the kunoichi.

"Toriya-chan, we were getting so worried," she said in her softly crinkling voice; it had been Atsui who had spoken earlier. "Some Yuki-nin went to chase after that kunoichi who kidnapped Shiro-kun. They found you lying in the snow, unconscious and nearly frozen to death! Two stayed back to bring you to the village, while the others went on ahead."

"Arigatou…" Toriya mumbled. Her hands were clutching the folds of the blanket tightly. "But what about Shiro-kun?"

Atsui closed her gray eyes and shook her wispy head.

"No!"

Toriya jumped out of her bed, sending the bed covers flying and reeling everyone in the room in shock once again.

"I'll find him!!!"

"Toriya-chan, do be reasonable!" Atsui begged, trying to hold down the unusually-anxious kunoichi. "You're still recovering, and there's no way you can find anything in this snowstorm!"

Toriya suddenly stopped struggling and turned to stare the old woman straight in her eyes. Atsui started in fear when she saw that Toriya's warm brown eyes had congealed into cold, piercing, golden ones. Eyes of a giant raptor.

"I will," the Suna-nin said resolutely. "I know what _they_ can do to him, so I will find him."

Atsui slowly lowered her hands as she stared back at Toriya.

"Fine," the elderly lady relented. "Just be very careful, Toriya-chan."

Toriya inclined her head in deep gratitude before slipping on her outer garments and dashing out the door.

"And please come back alive," Atsui whispered, words that the kunoichi could not hear but understood.

There was no way, Toriya declared to herself, that she was going to die like this.

**x-x-x-x-x**

The wind whistled past Toriya's ears as she braved the cold and the lingering numbness in her body. Although the rokubi's strong chakra had long begun to break down the paralysis potion clutching onto her nerves, Konan had not been merely boasting when she claimed the power of the substance. An ordinary person would indeed have been unable to move for a week, but a jinchuuriki with eyes and heart resolutely set on a single goal could mobilize in just a few days.

Unfortunately, three days was not enough to completely dissolve the potion.

Toriya pushed these thoughts out of her mind and focused on making her way as quickly as possible to the lake guarding the entrance to the Akatsuki hideout in the Land of Lakes, a small peaceful country that rested on the shores of the mainland. After trekking across the ocean from the island of the Land of Snow on Tsumemaru, Toriya knew that she could not travel in such an obvious way (one must admit that a large bird flying in the sky is rather conspicuous) and risk exposing her arrival. Thus she settled for traveling by foot.

Her small robot bird situated at that very lake rang out in her mind, and the kunoichi knew she had arrived upon standing at the banks of a deep blue lake. Below its innocently glittering waters, Toriya was aware of a hidden seal that set up a solid shield to hide the entrance.

"Toriya-san!"

Surprised, Toriya turned to see five nin, uniformed in gray outfits and sporting Yuki headbands and even identical haircuts, skid to a stop on the mud and then spring up on their feet.

"……who are you?"

"I am Ichi!"

"Ni!"

"San!"

"Shi!"

"Go!"

They saluted.

"And we have been sent from Yukigakure to follow and assist you!" the five of them called out in unison.

Then they all bowed in unison. Toriya personally thought it was extremely strange to name someone after numbers, but she settled with the fact that those were their code names and (somewhat reluctantly, as they slightly resembled Lee with his almighty Power of Youth) expressed her gratitude to accept their aid.

"Toriya-san! Tell us what to do!"

Suppressing a sigh, Toriya thought that she could at least make the most of their zealous desire to help to save precious time. By now, Shiro could be—

No! She couldn't think that! Shiro had to be alive!

"Alright! All of you listen up," Toriya snapped suddenly. "Based the data I've collected over the past months, this lake contains a Pentacle Seal. Around the lake, there are five focal areas, each of which contains a paper seal. The seals need to be broken one after another, starting from the northern one and moving in a clockwise order."

"What happens when all five of the seals are broken?" the left-most Yuki-nin (probably Ichi, Toriya mused) inquired quietly out of the awed silence of his other four companions.

"I exert a surge of chakra into the whirlpool that opens in the middle of the lake and fall into it," she answered simply.

"But… er…" San (or maybe it was Shi) ventured timidly, "where exactly are the seals?"

In an instant, Toriya shot off five kunai that struck at five points around the lake, revealing the invisible rocks that each held a paper seal.

"The answer to your question," she said to the surprise of the five nin. "Now each of you go to a rock and break the seals in order once I give the signal."

"Hai, Toriya-san!"

Once in position, Ichi started the circle by pulling off the seal in one swift movement, with Ni, San, Shi, and Go following immediately. Glowing lines connecting the five points sprouted forth from the lake, forming the figure of a star-shaped pentacle.

Toriya felt a low rumbling growling forth within the depths of the waters. Instinctively, she jumped up and took a well-aimed, chakra-powered punch toward what was now the small beginning of a whirlpool. The waters cracked. With the howling roar of the broken seal and to the stunned gaze of the five Yuki-nin, Toriya braced herself as she was swept downward into the raging waters and to the underground entrance of the Akatsuki hideout…

* * *

**A/N**: A bit of comic relief, technicalities, aaaand a cliffhanger! (cackles evilly) Super special thanks to **Transient Shadow, RebelFlame, Haku's No. 1 Girl, Kairai, MelonSplash, Alumia, UchihaKinakae, and EvilBoyzR2Cute**. EvilBoyzR2Cute: Thanks very much for that comment; I was on clouds for several days! And everyone makes me wholly exuberant!! (bows humbly) Oh, you know what else makes me exuberant? Hilarious English dubs. They apparently call _Ta no kuni_ (Land of Rice Fields) the Land of Rice Paddies. I know that rice fields and rice paddies are analogous, but "rice paddies" just sounds so much more amusing. 

Ah, one more thing. I've brought upon a plot change in the future events of my story as a result of the recent manga chapters, which Iabsolutely love. There was this one wrinkle I couldn't smooth out in my story previously, but now I can proudly say that it all works out!!!!!!!!!!! Borrowing stuff from the _Naruto_ plotline inspires me, you see. Um, think of it as though I've collaborated with Kishi-sensei! (has a coughing fit) Yeah, yeah, only in my dreams. I obviously don't own, co-own, or own even the tiniest fraction of _Naruto_.


	17. Outrage

**Chapter 17: Outrage**

* * *

Itachi was tired. It was very draining to spend three days nonstop using one's chakra extracting a giant mass of demonic chakra, even if the host of the gobi was a little boy. Although he had gone through this process several times already, he felt more exhausted than usual, partially since there were only five Akatsuki members left. His eyes, already hazy to begin with, felt strained and stinging, and it was very difficult to see through the foggy myopia of his hologram.

The last of the chakra seeped out of the unconscious Shiro in one gasp before being completely sealed in the stone statue. With a creak, the black pupil of another stone eye formed, glistening ominously in the dim light of the cavern.

Itachi suppressed a sigh of relief as he stopped focusing his chakra and lowered his hand.

"Our work is done here," said the Leader, addressing the projections of the other four Akatsuki members. The only members present in person, not as holograms, were Konan and himself.

Obscured in the shadows, the Leader scanned over the remaining members of the organization scattered across the ten pedestals. Now facing stronger opponents, especially the pesky Konoha-nin, Akatsuki was beginning to dwindle down in numbers. Unless they recruited more qualified members, he knew that it was a matter of time before they lost the rest of them. Time was certainly not on their side.

"Now that we have captured and sealed the gobi, we only have the rokubi and the kyuubi left," the Leader continued. "As you all know, the kyuubi should be left for last. Its chakra is the strongest and will cause an imbalance in the energy stored in the statue if we seal it earlier. This means our next target is, once again, the rokubi."

His multi-colored Rinnegan eyes shifted over to Itachi.

"Itachi, your new assignment is the rokubi. I recall Kisame failed to catch the jinchuuriki four years ago—" (Here Kisame gave a low cough and muttered something about the said jinchuuriki insulting his Samehada) "—but… _he_ has confidence in your abilities."

The Sharigan master shifted slightly at the mention of "he."

"Both of you should still watch out for Sasuke and his group Hebi," the Leader cautioned Itachi and Kisame.

"Zetsu, continue your usual work of surveillance."

The half-plant, half-man former Kusa-nin inclined his head in understanding.

"As for me," resumed the Leader, "I will capture the kyuubi."

Itachi glanced at him but said nothing.

"That will be all."

The Leader was about to raise his hand to dismiss the Akatsuki-nin when he heard a rumbling sound resonating outside the hideout. As the ground began to tremble, the walled entrance to the hideout started to crack. Dews of water trembled and dripped from the crumbling openings.

"It sounds like water…" Konan commented.

No sooner had she made her remark did the walled entrance burst open and let way to a surge of cold lake water, tendrils of liquid raging madly in murky eddies.

**x-x-x-x-x**

Having been raised in the desert, Toriya never did like large bodies of water, since water was usually associated with swimming. And Toriya, though fully capable of swimming, did not like swimming.

This did not change as she was tossed around in the swirling lake water after Ichi, Ni, San, Shi, and Go released the Pentacle Seal. As she struggled to remain sane, poor Toriya tried not to imagine that she was like something that had been flushed down the toilet.

Not a very pleasant thought at all.

So it was with great relief that the churning water finally dumped her onto the damp ground in an underground cavern. Landing on all fours and coughing, Toriya slowly began to realize that the Akatsuki was looming in front of her. It then dawned on her, with a cold chill skittering down her spine, that Shiro was lying at the foot of the ten pedestals: a crumpled heap of white robes plastering the small body of the boy who was presumably unconscious, or maybe even…

"Dead?" Toriya whispered with heavy dread, her golden eyes widening in horrified shock.

No chakra or life force glowed within the small body. The hollowness of the empty shell swallowed her in a vast ringing void, its silent cackle taunting, jeering at, and prodding her.

"Was I… too late?"

The chill that had budded inside her shattered into countless shards and slowly began to chip away at the seal that separated the beast from her mind. Streams of chakra began to seep out from the bars and into her conscience. Her vision began to blur.

_No…_

It was then that she finally yielded to blind despair for the second time in her life, allowing a screeching roar deep within her to explode from the restraining seal and fill her with screaming billows of yellow chakra and sheer outrage.

**x-x-x-x-x**

Itachi was somewhat surprised to see Toriya break down so easily in rage, having only seen her calm, controlled exterior.

A blazing, golden-colored chakra engulfed her crouched form. Even through a hologram, Itachi could feel the destructive power burning in the chakra of the six-tailed hawk, which continued to gush out and froth like sizzling golden foam. The lake water surrounding her began to be pushed aside from the winds emitting from the chakra.

Raptor qualities formed: hands elongated and twisted into rough, sharp claws; two giant wings formed and solidified from the chakra, folding themselves back and then stretching outwards; yellow feather-like structures entwined themselves into a thin armor; and two feathered tails lengthened and curled, each crystallizing an eye-like circle at its end.

The face was horribly distorted: steely golden eyes against midnight black, lips widened into a grinning snarl lusting for fresh blood and ripped flesh, and feather-like lines sprouted forth on the cheeks and neck. When she chuckled, a low raucous screech came out instead.

Itachi watched her transformation calmly. He knew there was absolutely no control in the chakra; without her fully harnessing the power of the rokubi, she was merely a mindless beast that only knew how to kill. Against the Leader and Konan, the only two who were physically present, the outcome was already decided.

He watched the battle progress with detachment, occasionally shifting his eyes away. For whatever reason, he did not wish to see her suffer.

Toriya charged forward in a golden blur of wind and water. In an instant, she was mid-air in front of the Leader and raised her giant right talon to strike him, but he easily jumped aside. The stone pedestal shattered in his place.

Snarling, she prepared to attack again when white paper butterflies swooped down on her.

"If you want revenge for your little friend, you should fight me, rokubi-chan," Konan said coolly.

"MY NAME IS TORIYA," roared Toriya, her eyes blazing in fury. "MIZUIRO TORIYA. AND. I. WILL. KILL. YOU."

She charged again.

The blue-haired kunoichi wavered on her own pedestal for a split second before disappearing in a flash of white.

Blood spurted from Toriya's left shoulder and splattered the ground like crimson paint.

She winced but quickly reinstituted her stance. Now paper butterflies were circling her, pure white and unique in their own respects. Toriya's new eyes followed every fold and etch of the origami insects in search of an opening.

"Too slow," Konan said calmly. "Now you will taste my Aoihachi no Jutsu."

She made some hand seals. Blue pieces of reformed paper shaped as bees rained down upon the chakra-shrouded Toriya as Konan spread her large paper wings and soared high above the ground. With a howl of mingled pain and rage, Toriya slashed at the cutting cerulean waves with her talons, spread her own chakra wings, and flew after Konan with another ear-piercing screech.

"Wow, they both have wings! This should be interesting…" murmured Zetsu's white half as both of his yellow eyes peered upwards at the swirls of golden chakra and white paper.

"**What's so interesting about an aerial battle?**" his black half inquired sneeringly.

"We don't get to see Konan-san's abilities very often."

"**But she's up against a raging jinchuuriki.**"

"No matter; she can't be beaten by the likes of this kunoichi."

"**I'll bet you our meals for the next week that the rokubi can make one scratch on Konan-san."**

"...It's a deal, then."

"**Hehe.**"

A blast drew the attention of both halves of Zetsu to the battle above. Amidst the falling rocks, Toriya was shoved back and plummeted straight to the ground with an immense crash and flying droplets of muddy water that lashed the walls in pelts. The winged Konan floated serenely downwards as the blue paper bees continued their furious circular flight.

"See? Konan-san doesn't even have a scratch," Zetsu's white half said smugly.

"…"

A low groan came from the new crater as Toriya managed to raise herself again. Flashes of golden chakra snapped and glimmered like a fire, but Itachi could see that it was a dying pyre. Tints of electric blue began to slither into the saffron: a tainting substance seeping into the purity of the lighter shade. The rokubi and Toriya screamed in pain as the blue gradually spread its detrimental constraints. Raw wounds from the slashes of the paper gasped and wept more crimson blood onto the dark water.

"My blue bees attack the chakra of the opponent," Konan explained, her turquoise eyes glinting with complacence at the success of her technique. "The more chakra there is, the happier my bees become.

"You soon will be unable to move."

"LIKE HELL I WILL!!"

In an instant, Toriya shot up to Konan and, nearly unseen by the origami master, sliced a wind talon across her face. Konan barely careened away in time, but it was clear to all that there was a red line across her left cheek.

"**What do you have to say about this?**" Zetsu's black half mocked the white half.

"………FINE. I'll find food for the next week," the white half snapped.

"**They'd better be fresh humans.**"

The white half was about to retort when Toriya plunged to the ground once again with another bone-crunching crash, one of her wings torn and unrepaired by the chakra. Fatigue was beginning to reign.

"Tch, at least it's only a scratch untouched by the rokubi's chakra," Konan grumbled, pressing a well-manicured finger against the small wound.

"Oh?" Kisame suddenly put in, his shark eyes turned downward at the foot of the pedestals. "It seems she's unconscious."

Konan had been right; the electric blue of her Aoihachi had poisoned the rokubi's golden chakra until no more was raging. The kunoichi host of the beast now lied in the second crater as a crumbled heap that gurgled with freshly-spilt blood and hissed with the aftereffects of the demonic transformation, having undergone a third of the tailed hawk's powers.

"Hm, how disappointing," Konan sighed.

She turned to the hologram of Itachi.

"My apologies, Itachi… it seems I've taken care of the jinchuuriki."

The crimson eyes of the said Uchiha bored into Konan's.

"I don't believe that's the end of Toriya-chan yet," he said quietly.

Konan frowned.

"Well, she certainly does seem unconscious now…" said the paper-wielding kunoichi, reaching out a hand towards Toriya as she approached the latter.

Suddenly, a slash of wind lashed out; instinctively, Konan withdrew her hand quickly to avoid damage. Taking a closer look, she was surprised to see that Toriya could still attack even when she was unconscious, made evident with her glossy, unfocused eyes.

"Hm, it's too dangerous to do anything with rokubi-chan at this time," Konan idly commented.

Toriya's fingers twitched at the sound of her hated nickname by the blue-haired kunoichi.

"I suppose we'll wait awhile," Konan concluded. "Pein, what do you think?"

Kisame and Zetsu started upon hearing the actual name of the Leader for the first name. Even Itachi's eyes widened for the merest second before retaining their usual size.

"Yes, we'll do just that," agreed the Leader, now revealed to be Pein. He showed no signs of surprise at being called his actual name in front of the rest of Akatsuki. "We can't afford to create an imbalance in the statue."

A shuffle on the ground attracted the attention of the Akatsuki nin. Toriya had somehow stood up without their noticing until now and was carrying Shiro's corpse on her back. She cast one last glazed glare of sheer hatred at the S-class missing-nin before, miraculously, bouncing out of the cavern. Residues of blood flicked to the ground in her movement, which was rather quick considering her physical circumstances.

"Sentimental fool," murmured Konan.

Ignoring her, Pein scanned the remaining members of Akatsuki once again.

"You're dismissed," he finally said, gesturing his hand with authority.

Itachi spared the blood-flecked ground one last look before forcing his hologram into nothingness along with the other two.

The sole pair stood at their respective spots below the pedestals.

"Why did he decide to make the switch of jinchuuriki assignments?" Konan asked, breaking the ensuing silence.

The stoic visage of Pein, marked with multiple piercings, darkened slightly as he pondered his partner's question regarding the mysterious man.

"Who knows what Master is thinking…" Pain said finally. "We simply take orders from him.

"Now let's go, Konan. We have the kyuubi to track down. Master has expressed great interest in the nine-tailed fox, and I'm intrigued to see what powers this beast yields."

With a low rumbling, the statue and the pedestals disappeared, and Pein and Konan left to fulfill their assignment.

**x-x-x-x-x**

Toriya would never remember exactly how she managed to pick up Shiro and emerge from the depths of the underground hideout. Even with all the mental strength she could muster, she would only recall, through a thick fog in her mind, suffering sheer agony gnawing at her muscles, a burning sensation in her skin, and the warm blood dripping from her raw wounds. Then, as though from afar, she reached fresh air free from the stifling atmosphere of underground, and there were panicked cries calling her name, she was lifted up, Shiro was taken off her shoulders, and then there was the surge of relief and gratitude, liberating her from the deadened lead and caressing her entire body with the soothing feel of air rushing past her until it turned into snow, the glorious frost that provided the home of Shiro and the source of her dreaded guilt and possible resting place if she continued to bleed…

_Would I die?_

The myopia suddenly dissipated. Through half-lidded eyes, she saw a white landscape of purity. She felt the cold snap at her cheeks, but it was blissfully cool. A gentle rain of snowflakes, pure white and unique in their own respects, was falling from the luster skies. They promised painlessness.

Death should not be anything to fear, after all. It should be pure and painless, the return to nothingness and the original state of being.

The once screaming pain dulled to a whisper as the snow enveloped her like protective arms around a trembling child. But there was nothing to fear. Nothing to lose. Nothing to live for.

There was no regret, no anger, no hope. Only an empty eggshell, cracked after the hatching of the tender baby inside. Obsolete.

The darkness replaced the snow. White and black. Black over white. She accepted it willingly.

It was still snowing.

And it was beautiful.

* * *

**Glossary**:

**Aoihachi no Jutsu** – Blue Bee Technique

* * *

**A/N**: This chapter reminds me of the song _How to Save a Life _(which I do not own)… Ahhh, such grief, such angst! …with some random Zetsu goodness in between. His two bickering halves never fail to amuse me. On a side note, I've just edited my past chapters so that the formatting is uniform; I'm such a stickler when it comes to formatting and grammar.

Much gratitude to all who reviewed or subscribed to my story! Please R&R, everyone! I'd much appreciate if there's anything I should watch out for or change in my writing in the future… or if it's absolutely perfect and flawless and the shining epitome of the world of Naruto fics starring our favorite weasel, then that's perfectly fine too (though I doubt it; I've read several fics that are absolutely awe-inspiring). Just kindly drop in a word or two so I know you're there and that I'm writing for the enjoyment of myself and other existent people.

Lesson of the day: the rokubi in Japanese mythology is a weasel. Itachi! XDXD

_Naruto_ (c) Kishimoto


	18. Suppression

**Chapter 18: Suppression**

* * *

The morning sunshine poured through the glass windows of the Hokage's office in sparkling streams as a flaxen-haired woman attempted to suppress a yawn. In great reluctance, she looked blearily at the towering stack of papers for her to read, stamp, and approve.

_Already so many papers in the morning… It's going to be a long day_, Tsunade sighed as she picked up the first sheet from the pile.

It wasn't long before a knock from the door interrupted her sluggish reading of a droning request to build a certain bridge across a certain river in Konohagakure.

"Come in," she ordered, trying her best to sound alert.

An ANBU nin, dressed in the usual attire and sporting an ox mask, stepped into the sun-flooded room and bowed.

"Hokage-sama, I have a report from the western base."

Tsunade nodded, her head leaning drowsily against her free hand as she idly scanned the contents of the paper.

"It appears the bandits we fought a week ago in the forest are heading towards Sunagakure."

At this, the Godaime snapped to attention.

"The bandits who call themselves Kurotora?"

"Hai, Tsunade-sama."

Frowning, she placed her elbows on her desk and leaned her chin against her folded hands. She recalled the shady group of missing-nin who had had their plans to invade Konoha foiled.

The group was notoriously known for their mastery at stealth and had already plundered several villages in their greedy trek; it had been pure luck that Naruto happened to stumble upon them as he passed by their hiding place in his morning trek to Ichiraku. Needless to say, the hot-headed teenager had loudly attacked them with multiple Kage Bunshin before his war cries attracted Kakashi's attention.

"There's also something else," the ANBU nin ventured quietly.

"…Well?"

"We've also had unconfirmed reports that Akatsuki is approaching Sunagakure as well."

"Akatsuki??"

Tsunade nearly fell out of her chair. Having Kurotora and Akatsuki in the same ballpark was not the most encouraging news to hear in the morning.

"What are they up to this time?" she demanded.

"We've heard that a pair has been sent by the Land of Swamps to take care of Kurotora. Apparently, the bandits have attacked and pillaged many villages in the country, and the daimyo hired Akatsuki to take care of Kurotora."

Rubbing her temple, Tsunade dearly hoped that this was not a trap and, though it was highly unlikely, that the two criminal groups were planning to band together. That would be an absolute nightmare.

"Immediately send our fastest messenger bird to Sunagakure with a sealed scroll explaining the situation," Tsunade commanded. "I trust the Kazekage will take proper action."

"Will we send reinforcements?"

"No," she answered after a slight pause, "the Suna-nin should be able to mobilize quickly once they receive news of Kurotora. We'll depend on the messenger bird."

"Hai, Tsunade-sama!"

In a whirl of smoke, the ANBU nin left the office to carry out his orders.

Sighing, Tsunade returned to the bridge-construction request that did not seem to be so annoying anymore.

"Having some problems, Tsunade?" a voice grinned from outside on the rooftop of the office.

"Shut up, Jiraiya," she mumbled, already craving for some sake.

_It's going to be a long day…_

**x-x-x-x-x**

Somewhere in the Land of Wind, Itachi and Kisame trudged through the blustering sandy dunes and the blazing desert sunlight. Ignoring his shark partner's grumbles about the dry weather and lack of water, Itachi allowed his thoughts to wander as they crossed the desolate landscape.

He had heard much about the Kurotora bandits but was vaguely surprised when Pein sent them to the Land of Swamps to accept the mission. Although the group of missing-nin was relatively notorious, they were only interested in material possessions to sate their avarice: slaughtering villagers for the sheer joy of it, seizing treasures of high net worth, and snatching young women into their lusting hands.

Itachi scowled inwardly. They had absolutely no sense of dignity! Akatsuki, on the other hand, had a noble goal of world domination and was certainly superior to Kuratora. It was with such majestic decorum, therefore, that Itachi carried himself as he worked towards his own personal objective. Had he been anyone other than a cold, emotionless, and highly dangerous S-class criminal listed in the Bingo Book, he would have had been cackling insanely.

"Itachi-san," Kisame suddenly spoke. "Where do you think Toriya-san went?"

"It's none of your concern, Kisame," the elder Uchiha replied tonelessly as he maintained his stare up ahead.

"Well, she was in quite a state when she left our hideout a week ago," the shark-nin mused.

"Hn."

Kisame decided prudently not to grace Itachi's taciturnity with another mention of the kunoichi; it seemed to be a very touchy topic recently. Without anything else upon which to settle his thoughts, the former Kiri-nin returned to his disgruntled mindset.

Despite his outward apathy, Itachi could not help wondering about the said kunoichi. When he and Kisame were passing through the Land of Snow, he had impulsively gone to wintery Yukigakure to visit Toriya: something he usually would not have done due to his preference of avoiding scuffles and detours. It was a peculiar feeling that Itachi did not—no, _could_ not—understand. His apparent patience and kindness towards Sasuke had just been an act, after all, but the kunoichi was able to evoke this foreign sensation within him. Perhaps, he told himself now, he had merely been curious. Curious about her. Curious about the mysterious…feelings.

Scanning the horizon of swirling sands, he remembered _the snowy winds that__whipped his black cloak as he entered Yukigakure through a genjutsu to conceal his presence. Villagers bundled in thick furs crunched through the fresh snow, their breaths coming in visible puffs. With his Sharingan, Itachi could easily detect Toriya's chakra, which was pulsating weakly, in a cabin a few meters down. He had the choice of leaving the village without doing anything, but instead he followed his instincts and headed towards the cabin._

_Curling tendrils of smoke were floating in light wisps through the chimney of the little house. With a light jingle of a bell, the elderly lady caring for Toriya stepped out the door. Although concealed in the invisibility illusion, Itachi waited until she had turned the corner towards the marketplace to make his move. _

_Closing his eyes, he prepared to transport himself inside the house. With the skills of one having long mastered the technique, he flitted into various ravens, one of which easily plucked open the latch of a window. In an instant, the black birds soared into the room and merged together into a complete Itachi once again._

_Smoothly, he released the genjutsu and immediately spotted Toriya languidly sitting on the bed and reading a book, completely unaware of his soundless intrusion._

_Despite her drained face, lackluster eyes, and clustered bandages, Itachi thought that she actually looked beautiful._

_..Where did that come from??_

_He frowned inwardly, slapping himself inside for that momentary loss of mental self-control. It was at moment that the kunoichi realized with a start that the Uchiha was standing across the room and staring at her with his usual bland expression._

_Toriya's hand jerked as she swiftly clasped a kunai she had tucked under her pillow for precautionary reasons. Her empty eyes flashed meekly as she glared hatefully at the S-class criminal._

"_What do you want?" she growled._

_Giving no response, Itachi continued to observe her current situation. With her chakra still straining under the aftereffects of Konan's Aoihachi, she would not be able to adeptly wield jutsu for a while. Coupled with a body that had suffered Konan's paper jutsu and paralysis potion, Toriya was essentially in no condition to fight._

_For a brief instance, Itachi mulled over Pein's order to capture the next jinchuuriki, the one containing the rokubi: namely, the very kunoichi in front of him that would not be able to defend herself._

_It was an easy, almost laughable, opportunity to knock her out and bring her to the new Akatsuki's hideout, but Itachi swept the idea away. He convinced himself that the notion of pouncing on the hapless prey was not very appealing. Yes, that was it; nothing more, nothing less._

"_To see how you're faring, Toriya-chan," he finally answered while wondering why he had even uttered those strange words. _

_How very uncharacteristic of Uchiha Itachi, he scowled (inwardly, of course)._

"_Doesn't Akatsuki have better things to do than visit depressed invalids?" Toriya said sourly, not believing him herself. "Next I'm sure you'll be doing charity work and community service._

"_Really now, Itachi. What are you here for?"_

"_Do I need a reason?" _

_Toriya smiled bitterly upon hearing the words. She recalled, a little more wistfully than she'd like to admit, the time when she herself had brushed aside a true reason for helping Itachi and Kisame in the Land of Red Beans._

"_My own words thrown back at me," she laughed humorlessly. _

_A pregnant pause followed the statement as the kunoichi avoided Itachi's steady gaze out of fear? Or anger? Even with his perceptive Sharingan eyes, Itachi was miffed and even slightly piqued that he was unable to read her expression. _

_What exactly were the motives of this kunoichi? _

_The Uchiha knew perfectly well that she was the enemy, but somehow, he wanted to know her better as not a foe._

_In a flicker, he moved from the window to the bedside. Caught unawares, Toriya barely had time to raise the hand clutching the kunai when Itachi stopped the arc of her arm with his own hand._

"_What the hell—" she began to spat but was once again obstructed by Itachi's interference._

_With her wrist in his hand and her fragile state, she could not do anything lest she risk getting killed by the Sharingan master's rapid moves. Itachi felt her tense under his grip and gaze._

"_Just relax, Toriya-chan," he said calmly. "I won't do anything to you."_

"_You won't do anything, my ass," snapped Toriya, her pained brown eyes boldly meeting his Sharigan. "You want to capture me and extract the rokubi, right? You're all just a bunch of cold, heartless bastards snatching demons here and there until… Oh what the hell are your motives anyway? You've killed Shiro-kun and six other people just because they had demons sealed inside them. It probably wasn't even their choice either! It's so stupid… so pointless… And for what reason… I just…"_

_She broke off, gasping in pain from the pressure she had applied on her wounds from her outburst._

_In the ensuing silence, Itachi was surprised to actually be affected by her words that seemed to lacerate his very being. He had never cared about what others thought of him until now; he least wanted Toriya to hate him._

"_You're so naïve," Itachi said instead, hiding his confusion._

_The kunoichi remained quiet. Her kunai fell softly onto the wool blanket from her limp hand._

"_Take care of yourself, Toriya-chan."_

_As caring as his words might have seemed, he knew that his tone was as emotionless as ever. A perfect mask._

_Inclining his head slightly in farewell, the ex-Konoha-nin left in the same flurry of ravens as he had entered. Then he crunched through the snow again as he left Yukigakure to reunite with Kisame, noting absently how the _sand shifted with little dragging feet across the soles of his sandals.

Seeing Toriya had somewhat sated his fluttering sentiments, but it still remained, as lively as a glowing batch of embers upon dry grass.

It was all very confusing, but having been trained to bury his emotions since young, Itachi did so now. Suppressing the strange feelings, he managed to focus on his assignment at hand. Even so, he could not help lighting his thoughts on her brown eyes that had suddenly sparkled so beautifully with angry fervor.

**x-x-x-x-x**

In Sunagakure, the sun was equally bright and cheery as it lavished warmth upon the desert village. Gaara walked peacefully down the bustling streets in his blue and white Kage garb, enjoying the lovely morning and the joyful sights of his village. Vendors and store managers waved happily to him as he passed the fragrances of their foods and the colorfulness of their goods respectively. A small group of young children dressed in camel-colored togas bustled by, chattering excitedly when they spotted Gaara.

"Kazekage-sama, this is for you," one of the little girls piped up, holding out a desert primrose.

The merest hint of a smile graced the usually-emotionless features of the red-haired nin as he leaned down to pick the delicate white flower from the girl's hands. Because it was rare to see the primrose bloom so early in the season, Gaara was quite delighted, though he did not show it, to see the sunny yellow at the epicenter of the pearly white petals.

"Arigatou," he thanked her.

The girl burst into a wide smile and ran off with her friends in high spirits at his acceptance of her gift.

Holding the primrose gently in his hand, he continued his walk, eventually reaching the outskirts of the residential area of the village.

He paused.

Turning back, Gaara looked suspiciously at the Mizuiro house, having sensed a presence. But she couldn't be back…?

The Kazekage returned to the front steps of the house. Tentatively, he tried the doorknob; as expected, it was still locked, but he could not shake off the feeling that something was still off.

"Toriya," he called out.

No response.

He tried again but to no avail.

Toriya would have answered with her sharp hearing, and seeing as she did not, Gaara decided that the sensation was just a figment of his imagination.

"Kazekage-sama!"

Slightly irked, the red-haired shinobi turned to see a turbaned messenger running towards him with a panicked expression on his face. He personally wondered why some people always overreacted to every little event.

"Kazekage-sama! We've just recent an extremely urgent scroll from Konohagakure about Kurotora!" the messenger gasped upon reaching Gaara. "Kurotora is approaching our eastern border."

Gaara narrowed his eyes as all other thoughts were pushed out of his head.

"Authorize the mobilization of five frontline teams to head immediately east," he ordered in his usual monotonous tone. "Tell the other teams to wait for my further instructions until I get more information."

"Hai, Kazekage-sama!"

The messenger left to do as Gaara had instructed him to do as the Kazekage returned right away to his office in a puff of sand. Although he maintained his usual expressionless façade, there was a bit of panic welling up inside him as well.

This was no trivial matter.

**x-x-x-x-x**

Deep underground, in the secret Mizuiro chamber below the house, Mizuiro Toriya was focusing her shimmering blue chakra with a hand seal. Receiving the emitted chakra were the complicated symbols and the kanji for "seal" that were scribed with ink on the unraveled scroll in front of her. Candles, placed in a perfect circle around the kunoichi, formed eerie nebulous shadows on the stone walls to complete the sealing ritual.

The said scroll was an invaluable discovery Sora had made while perusing the old documents of the Mizuiro clan. While Toriya was still recovering in Yukigakure from the heavy wounds and aftereffects of Konan's Aoihachi, the medic hawk had informed Toriya of it. As it turned out, the scroll contained a powerful seal her grandfather had created before sealing the rokubi inside her. Requiring a ritual to function properly, the seal in the scroll could completely suppress the chakra of the rokubi for exactly six hours.

It had not taken long for Toriya to decide to return to Suna in the middle of her hasty convalescence and put the seal to work. She recalled with both disgust and fear the nauseously burning sensation of the rokubi's chakra in the Akatsuki hideout and during a training session several years ago with Tsumemaru.

Although she could not clearly recall the details of the incidents, the intensity of the pain and grief still haunted her soul with pestering persistence. As such, because she did not wish to yield herself completely to the terrible power of the rokubi, she now resolved to find a way to survive without utilizing its chakra.

"_**Fufufu, you wish to fight without my power?**__" the demon bird sneered._

_Toriya opened her eyes to see glinting stalactites seeping crystal dews of water from the stony ceiling. Still sitting on the hard ground, she turned around and managed to not flinch when she saw the steely golden eyes of the sealed demon. _

_It was not the first time she had entered her cavern-like subconsciousness to converse with the rokubi, but she still tingled with muted trepidation at the sight of the giant bird, especially since she had almost lost control to this creature with powers of awesome terror. _

"_**You are a foolish girl**__," the rokubi continued, its beak curled into a grin._

"_You're one to talk, stupid bird," Toriya said coolly. "My chakra is currently forming a wall to fortify the seal."_

"_**So it seems… but can you learn to survive without MY chakra?**__"_

"_That's none of your business. As long as I'm alive, you'll be fine too. You have no reason to complain."_

_The rokubi chuckled. Dark water in the holes of the ground rippled with the vibrations of the laughter. A poorly-formed stalagmite tottered precariously before crumbling to the ground like a wilting flower._

"_**Very well, then. I shall be amused at what you can achieve, girl.**__"_

"_Hmph."_

With a snap, the wall condensed completely, and the sealing was completed. Feeling a little muffed, Toriya stood up in the circle of put-out candles and headed up the staircase to the open earth above. When the dry sunshine of the desert shimmered upon her, she felt constrained as though lead had leaked into her limbs, a state that only exacerbated her weak condition. Limping slightly on her bandaged legs, Toriya made her way through a hidden alleyway in the village and towards the same training ground where baa-sama had trained her years ago.

Under the blazing sun, the brown-haired kunoichi slumped onto the cracked earth of the patch of land. Although it was the rokubi's chakra upon which the blue paper bees had fed, her own chakra pulsed irregularly in dull anguish. Shiro's cold, heavy body and empty orange eyes flooded her memories.

Pressing her palms against the stiff ground, she choked back a sob. Tears—those she had promised herself never to spill again after baa-sama's first training session and after the horrific incident of the Mizuiro's entire decimation—spilled in salty dews, sinking into the parched ground that seemed to mock her sorrow.

Did she feel regret? Regret for not training hard enough? Regret for blindly letting her instincts guide her towards Itachi and Kisame? If she hadn't followed them, after all, she could have remained focused. If she hadn't let her damn feelings get in the way, perhaps she would have reached Yukigakure or the Akatsuki hideout sooner. If she had been stronger, she could have saved Shiro. And she wouldn't be in this predicament today.

If's. The world was full of them. And, she realized with a pang, there was nothing one could do about them now.

Sporadic tears continued to fall as voices rang in her mind.

"_Don't be a useless little girl." _

"I'm not, baa-sama…" she whispered, quickly wiping away the tears as though her grandmother was truly scolding her. Specks of sand lingered on her face in the wake of her hands. "I just… wish I could have been stronger… so that it never would have happened…"

"_You're so naïve."_

Suddenly, something snapped then. Toriya sat straight up and gritted her teeth in fury and frustration. The Sharingan master's words seemed to cut through her heart more than baa-sama's did. Allowing herself to be mocked by him was simply not acceptable. It wasn't exactly hatred that fueled her now but something more akin to protecting her pride and perhaps, though she would never admit it openly, a desire to be…admired?

She shook her head to clear the muddled confusion in her head.

"Tch… I'll show you who's naïve, Itachi!" she growled.

"Talking to yourself again?" sighed Tsumemaru, having just arrived from bringing some more kunai and shuriken from the private hawk storehouse.

"Shut up and help me train, Tsumemaru-sama."

"If you say so, Toriya-san."

The kunoichi scrambled to her feet. Taking a taijutsu stance and pushing out the pain, she faced the hawk lord, suppressed all feelings, and began her training.

**x-x-x-x-x**

In the meantime, at the canyon entrance of Sunagakure, trouble was brewing.

Peering through binoculars, the guards could clearly discern a shady group of shinobi, dressed in black, looming darkly on the horizon of the billowing desert.

* * *

**Glossary**:

**Kurotora** – Black Tiger

**Aoihachi** – Blue Bee; Konan's jutsu that I created of sending blue paper bees towards an opponent to absorb his/her chakra

**A/N**: What's sad is that I had most of this chapter written out and kept putting off Itachi's flashback scene in Yukigakure. Procrastination reigns! I believe this is my longest chapter yet, however. (preens in pride) Action comes in the next installment!

Yes, I'd like to maintain the image of a calm, emotionless, badass Itachi. No insane cackling from Itachi in my imagination, thank you very much.

A happy shout-out to my two very awesome readers who always review,**Transient Shadow** and **RebelFlame**! Reviews do make me happy and oil my wheels of imagination. So for those silent readers out there: read and review away if you like faster updates!!!!!!

_Naruto_ (c) Kishimoto


	19. Contention

**Chapter 19: Contention**

* * *

Cloaked in the protection of the hushed night, a tall shinobi clad entirely in midnight black jumped from rock to rock like an ethereal shadow. As the sand dunes shifted in the wake of his movement, a cold breeze lifted his hood to reveal spiky brown hair, cobalt eyes, and the silvery flash of a Suna hitai-ate under the dim moonlight.

The young Suna-nin landed smoothly behind a large rugged stone away from the face of the crescent moon. Taking a deep breath for soothing his jittery senses, he pressed a finger against the radio transmitter in his ear to adjust the sound.

"Kankuro, are you there?" he said in an undertone.

"Of course I am, Kai," came the puppet master's annoyed response, flaked with static. "I'm at Point C. No enemies in sight after their failed invasion at the entrance. The other frontline teams should be at their respective positions as well. Over."

"Understood. I'm at my designated position of Point A. You should keep your guard up; although Kurotora retreated, they are masters at stealth and are definitely still around. Over."

"Like I need you to tell me that," Kankuro snorted. "You should watch your left side. During your training sessions, I noticed you have a tendency to leave it open. Over and out."

"Hmph," scoffed Kai as the other nin's connection turned silent. "What does a puppet freak know about actual fighting anyway? All he does is move his fingers."

Settling himself at his chosen spot, the gray-eyed boy carefully rearranged his weapons pouch and checked his surroundings by quietly extending tendrils of his chakra to probe the area.

Nothing.

He breathed a sigh of relief.

But even through his mask of condescension and the shroud of safety, Kai could not shake off a tingling sensation, as though he was being watched. He quickly looked around, but since the darkness impaired his vision and his chakra had sensed nothing, he convinced himself that he was just being overly paranoid.

While keeping half his mind on alert, Kai wondered how his former teammate Toriya was faring. It had been several months since she left Suna for the second time to—what was it—fulfill her goal.

Whatever that meant.

Kai had always known the kunoichi to be fairly quiet, slightly quirky, and secretive. There were many things she never mentioned to him and Kon, namely, the entire destruction of her clan year ago, or the two cloaked shinobi who had come after her in Kusagakure. Or why she left them. Once again.

At this, Kai felt another stab of sadness that he hastily worked to suppress. He mentally slapped himself, berating himself for thinking of such things at a time like this.

Hours passed; the endless sea of stars began to gently fade away as the dark night gave way to the earliest tinges of dawn. Due to the many secret nighttime missions he had accepted during the past years, Kai managed to stay awake and on alert during these silent hours.

But it had been silent… too silent. He felt uneasy.

And wasn't Kankuro supposed to give him two updates through the night?

Frowning in concern, Kai adjusted his radio headpiece to speak again.

"Kankuro, this is Kai. I need an update. Over."

Nothing. Not even the crackle of static.

Kai's scalp began to prickle in apprehension.

"Kankuro! Where are you? Respond! Over."

"I'm afraid your dear puppet friend is not going to respond, boy," said a deep, smooth voice above him.

Immediately, Kai jolted into combat mood, retrieving his kunai and jumping away from the rock whose shadow had been his hiding place.

_I didn't even sense him_, he thought wildly.

The boy's gray orbs flickered to the figure perching atop the said stone: a tall sturdy man with eyes of olive-colored iron and short silver hair. He was dressed in a sort of chain armor of a mahogany shade that rippled each time he moved in the frail light. His legs and hips were equipped with more than the usual number of weaponry pouches, yet he seemed to move nimbly despite the extra weights. Inky black silk lathered his muscular limbs and gave him the impression of a regal man, complemented by the look of arrogance etched on his chiseled, rather handsome face.

"You're the boss of this Kurotora, right? What the hell are you talking about?" Kai demanded calmly, holding his kunai steady.

"We've cut off all of Suna's radio connections," returned the man. "That is why you haven't been receiving anything."

"What did you do to them?"

"Oh, nothing much."

The man shrugged nonchalantly.

"There wasn't a lot we could do to you weak Suna-nin."

"Weak?" whispered Kai harshly. "Are you calling me a weakling?"

The man's green eyes narrowed.

"What if I am?" he said smugly.

Kai snapped; he despised being looked down upon.

Charging towards the black-clad man, Kai raised his kunai and pounced into the air above the stone.

"You're really stupid, aren't you," scoffed the man.

He raised an arm to brush aside Kai but was surprised when the boy disappeared in a flicker. Spinning around, he realized belatedly that the Suna-nin was behind him and was forced to jump off the stone to avoid Kai's direct shuriken assault.

"Well, well… you're not bad, boy," the head of Kurotora grinned, landing lightly on the sand. "But why don't we give you a real taste of despair?"

He snapped his fingers, and Kai suddenly felt the dark looming presence of people _to the left of him_. The weak spot Kankurou had mentioned. Nearly frozen by shock and deep foreboding, he managed to turn slowly and take in the sight of dozens of men clad in the same black material as was their boss.

_Oh shi—_

WHAM.

Kai was knocked off his feet at the surging crowd of men charging towards him. Struggling to regain his footing, he tried in vain to avoid the taunting jeers and slashing weapons of the men surrounding him. He rolled upon the gritty sand, his eyes closed shut and hands groping helplessly at thin air.

_No use, no use_, he panicked. _At this rate, I'm going to die by being beaten up. OhgodohgodwhatshouldIdo—_

The crowd began to loosen. Surprised and greatly relieved, he managed to throw off the remaining men around him and stood up on wobbly legs. Glancing frantically around for some sign of his salvation, he spotted not too far away—

"Toriya-chan!" he gasped.

**x-x-x-x-x**

Toriya acknowledged her fallen friend briefly before continuing her physical attacks that she had reaped upon the men, lashing out quick punches and blocking Kurotora's assaults in the smooth, skillful actions that she had just quickly learned and refined while hastily training with Tsumemaru.

Deep inside, however, Toriya knew that she was running out of time. She had barely rested after training, and her bandaged arms and legs were still feeling extremely numb. After catching news of the Kurotora bandits who had tried to invade Suna a few hours after she finished the sealing ritual in the isolated part of the village, Toriya had quickly decided to help them out. And the first person she had stumbled upon was Kai.

Delivering a heavy blow to the neck of another bandit, Toriya winced as her arm began to protest again. Blocking out the pain, she forced herself to continue as she delivered a kick to a rampaging bandit.

Chakra usage would not be permitted.

"Well, well, what have we here," the head of Kurotora said silkily from his new perch on another stone originally meant for enjoying the slow torture of Kai.

"Gin-sama! This girl suddenly showed up and started defeating us all—" a man on Toriya's far right began.

"You weak bastards," the silver-haired man remarked as though he were merely commenting on an imperfect piece of furniture.

Toriya tensed as Gin jumped down from his stone and observed her idly.

"You dared to disturb the entertainment of Ashida Gin," he said smoothly.

"I wouldn't call that 'entertainment,'" Toriya scowled. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kai attempting to tend to his wounds as best he could.

Gin's smirk widened.

"You seem pretty strong, young lady. How would you like to entertain me, then?"

Suddenly he struck, sending out a fist the instant he finished speaking. Toriya responded too slowly and was knocked flying back into a large rugged stone, causing its front side to crumble into smaller pieces. When she tried to get up, she found her legs unable to move.

_Not good…_, she thought groggily. _This is definitely not good._

Toriya knew that she had reached her current limits. The seal she had enacted against the rokubi was not set to be released until another half hour, and she had already used all her own stamina with training and fighting the other bandits.

"My, my… How very disappointing," sighed Gin.

From the ground, Toriya looked up at his sneer in deep loathing.

"I expected more from you, but it seems you're tuckered out already. In fact, young ladies like you shouldn't be fighting all the time and giving such dirty looks."

In one swift motion, he lifted her and slammed her against what remained of the rock. Grinning, he pressed in closer to the haplessly struggling kunoichi with his left hand pinning her against the broken stone.

"Despite that expression, you're actually pretty cute," he whispered into her ear, causing her to shudder.

His free hand began to roam her back side and slowly worked its way down. Toriya's mind, already distressed, began to panic.

"Let go of her!" Kai shouted from what seemed like a far distance away.

Her eyes glazing over, Toriya heard his muffled yell and presumed with dismay that the remaining bandits were restraining him. When he lapsed into silence, she knew that he had been knocked unconscious.

_No! I'm not going to give in like this…_, she thought desperately.

The kunoichi managed to force her right hand into action and slash at Gin's face. The man's expression darkened at the feel of the feeble scratch marks. Roaring in rage, he punched Toriya's cheek, snapping her head to the left and forming a bruise.

"Now you've done it," he hissed as she choked and coughed out her own blood. "You've ruined my face. I'm going to take your damn persistent pride away. And I'm going to enjoy every moment of it as I watch you despair and scream."

Leering licentiously, Gin forced his mouth against hers. In response, she bit his lips spitefully, drawing the acrid taste of blood. The man growled in incensed anger and began to rip off pieces of her clothes. Extremely terrified now, Toriya tried to scream out but found her vocal cords would not work, would not response, as though they were paralyzed… she clenched her eyes shut in a futile attempt… trying but failing to shut out her assaulter's grunts and hot breath… she felt him sliding his hands down between her legs…

Then he stopped and fell silent. A warm liquid splattered on her face.

Opening her eyes gradually, Toriya realized with shock that the liquid was blood.

Gin's blood.

And she was looking past what would have been his head, above his bloody stump of a neck, straight at—

"Itachi…" she whispered in enormous relief.

Without anything to support her, the kunoichi slumped to the pebbled ground next to Gin's body in a haze but not before noting the strange look in Itachi's Sharingan eyes. A blazing inferno fired in his crimson orbs, something akin to… anger?

Before her tired mind could register this further, Itachi turned away, casually tossing aside the thin, blood-stained katana that he had used to slice Gin's head off. The blade left his hand in such a fashion that it appeared the former Konaha-nin was merely throwing a broken twig to the ground.

Toriya shivered. It just occurred to her—in a cold, bone-chilling convulsion—that she had been dealing with dangerous, cold-hearted criminals all this time. Akatsuki had never been a pushover, but it was not until now that she realized the full extent of what could have happened to her. Mangled. Bleeding rivers of red. Rotting.

_I could have been killed._

"W-who are you?"

The trembling voice of one of the remaining bandits broke into her shattered stream of thought, bringing her back to the situation at hand.

"A shinobi sent to kill you by the Land of Swamps," Itachi replied calmly, his blazing look still upon them.

Meanwhile, his left eye shifted and changed into a black kaleidoscope-like pupil. Even in her pain and lingering fear, Toriya was surprised.

_He's… going to use Tsukuyomi? On multiple people? On… them??_

Their screams instantly imbued the frosty dawn air of the desert. In reverberating tones, the cries of the tortured bandits throbbed her deadened mind and tingled her sense of taste with bitter vile.

Whimpering softly in pain, Toriya managed to raise her voice enough to shout at Itachi to stop. To her surprise, he started and broke the Mangekyou genjutsu, giving the brown-haired kunoichi a half-glance as he did.

"My apologies. I got carried away," he murmured, though in his usual tone.

But Itachi never lost his cool like this…

"**Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!**"

In sleek movements, his seals produced the giant ball of fire that lurched towards the bandits, burning their bodies to a crisp. Toriya gaped at the simplicity of Itachi's victory; he had taken them all out in one move.

What had she been doing all this time? What had she missed?

"You're still naïve, Toriya-san," he remarked calmly in light of the smoking flesh whose caustic stench pervaded the air in heavy pulses. "As a result of your past training, it's impossible for you to rely only on taijutsu."

Unfortunately, he was right; she had neither the strength nor capabilities to rely solely on hand-to-hand combat. With these limits, it was necessary that she also utilize her own chakra… and thus risk being subjected to the power of the rokubi.

It seemed she had been made the fool again.

Wearily, she returned her attention to Kai, whose body lied on the sand in an awkward angle after Kurotora had let go of him. At least it was reassuring that he was safe and only mildly injured.

"Would you like to learn how to properly control the rokubi's power?"

Snapping her eyes upward, Toriya gawked at Itachi in stunned defiance.

"What would you know about controlling its chakra?" she muttered resentfully.

"I don't… but Madara-san does."

Toriya frowned, still fighting to keep her consciousness awake.

"Madara…?"

Although she had questions, the name rang no bell. Her exhaustion was heavily clouding her reasoning, impairing her judgment and whirling her mind into a deep dark fog…

Just then, Kisame with his unraveled Samehada appeared beside Itachi.

"Itachi-san, I've taken care of the other bandits."

"I have as well."

"That's good. Now we can—Isn't that Toriya-san??"

Kisame did a double take as he stared at the said kunoichi, his beady eyes taking in all the bruises, bandages, and blood now plastering her.

Toriya gave him one annoyed look before flinching… and falling sideways onto her back in sheer fatigue. Glancing idly down at her, Itachi approached her body, knelt down, and—to Kisame's surprise—gently (yes, _gently_, Kisame especially noted) lifted her in his arms.

"Itachi-san?"

The black-haired nin gave no response as he stood up and carried the kunoichi away from the direction of Sunagakure.

Kisame furrowed his eyebrows as he took a few large steps to walk in stride with his partner, never noticing the glimmer of a hitai-ate that had fallen out of Toriya's knapsack earlier and was struck by a large chunk of rock.

"These are Leader-sama's orders," Itachi explained as though having read the question in Kisame's mind.

"Aa," Kisame mused. "I wonder what he has in mind now…"

Itachi remained silent, partially focusing on erasing their footsteps in the sand with a genjutsu.

The other half of his mind was solely reserved for the kunoichi in his arms.

**x-x-x-x-x**

A few hours later, exactly five nurses were attempting to suppress a flailing Kai at the village hospital.

"It's true, it's true!" he kept shouting. "I saw Toriya-chan!"

"Now, Kai-kun," one of the nurses soothed. "You must remain calm until an authoritative figure arrives to question you…"

"I'm telling you it's her!"

"Tell us all the details," spoke an emotionless voice from the doorway. "Calmly, that is."

"Kazekage-sama! Baki-san! Houshu-sama!"

The startled nurses scurried to bow respectfully to Gaara, who had spoken, before stepping aside. Gaara's former teacher and an elder of the Suna council stood next to him.

Dressed in the usual toga and bearing the customary turban, Houshu was an old, wiry man with sharp eyes of a faded sapphire ocean that caught every small hint. Despite his age wrinkled appearance, and wispy beard, the retired shinobi could still put up a tough fight: both in the council and on the battlefield.

Gaara often referred to Houshu for advice during combative times, such as the Kurotora incident that had just recently passed. It had been largely thanks to Houshu's shrewd strategy that repelled Kurotora from entering Suna's walls and later helped the many squads fight off the bandits wandering around outside.

Although he was less than pleased at having found out it had been two S-class criminals of the notorious Akatsuki who had finally taken care of all of Kurotora.

Gaara, looking rather tired, nodded curtly at the departing nurses before approaching at Kai's bedside. The other two men followed suit.

"Well?" Baki prompted, one of his arms in a sling after getting injured in the recent scuffles. The eye that was not covered by the cloth hanging down from his turban was underlined by rings from recent stress.

Swallowing hard, Kai then proceeded to tell the three nin how he had waited in the desert, encountered Gin and some of his bandits early in the morning, and later was rescued by Toriya.

"Then they knocked me out, and the next thing I knew, I was in the hospital," he finished.

Houshu sighed in frustration. The boy had not provided as much as information as they would like, only confirmed the reappearance of Mizuiro Toriya and two Akatsuki-nin.

"Kazekage-sama," suddenly announced a turbaned messenger from outside the hospital room.

Gaara turned to face him, giving the man permission to continue.

"We just discovered this from the area where Kai was found."

He raised his clutched hand, holding up a Suna hitai-ate with a rugged line crossed hastily, as though by a jagged rock, through the hourglass. Kai sat up straight, staring at the forehead protector.

"That's Toriya-chan's…" he whispered.

"How do you know?" Baki asked, raising his eyebrows in surprise.

"There's a small symbol of her clan on the cloth."

Having noted it already, Houshu reached out to grasp the hitai-ate. He held up the blue cloth to the right of the metal plate, revealing a stitched feather crest of the Mizuiro on it.

"What does this mean?" Baki inquired finally, looking pointedly at the crossed-out Suna symbol.

"It means…" Houshu said slowly, "that she has officially left the village. Only nuke-nin would demean the symbols of their villages like this."

Gaara closed his eyes, dreading inside what he knew he had to do. Toriya's departures, the one four years ago and the second just a few months earlier, had been excused; the first was because Suna had been in chaos after their failed invasion of Konoha, and the other was due to his own supplication to the council for allowing her to leave. If this time Toriya had truly betrayed and left Suna, there was only one option left…

"Kazekage-sama," Houshu said sternly.

The red-haired nin opened his icy green eyes and raised them to meet those of the messenger who had brought the hitai-ate.

"Contact the hunter nin," Gaara ordered expressionlessly, though his eyes flickered strangely. "Send a squad of them to go after Mizuiro Toriya, now labeled as a nuke-nin who must be caught as soon as possible."

"Hai, Kazekage-sama!"

In the wake of the messenger's departing footsteps, Kai lamented quietly inside.

Why did it turn out like this?

* * *

**Glossary**:

**Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu **– Fire Release: Grand Fireball Jutsu (I'm sure you knew this already)

**nuke-nin** – missing/rogue ninja

* * *

**A/N**: Bleh, writing long-winded reports are not healthy for writing fics. In any case, **much thanks to RebelFlame, Transient Shadow, and Angelical Vany**! I also seem to have fallen into the habit of writing (unpublished, unpolished, sitting around in my computer) oneshots in between chapters. If you feel like it, stroll around my list of oneshot stories; they're mostly about _Naruto_ characters.

On a totally random note: I always laugh when I describe characters' outfits. As a result, I am greatly amused when I write about it or when I read other authors' outfit descriptions XD. Don't ask why; it's a complete mystery to me as well.

_Naruto_ (c) Kishimoto


	20. Confined

**Chapter 20: Confined**

* * *

The first thing Toriya saw when she finally regained consciousness was Kisame looking down at her with a hand on the hilt of his Samehada.

Yelping, she leapt up and scooted as far away as possible from the bemused shark-nin.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" the startled kunoichi yelled. "Put that giant popsicle stick away!"

Then a shock of pain flashed through her senses. Flinching, she loosened her tense muscles and removed her bandaged hand from the steel—wait, a _steel_ wall?

"Popsicle stick?" Kisame growled in response. "This is Samehada!"

Ignoring his protest, Toriya blearily peered around her surroundings and realized she was in a completely foreign place.

The room was dull and slightly cramped with various shades of gray. A misty window provided little insight to the outside world except a steady flow of rain that tapped against the roof. Water stains blemished the ceilings whose corners embraced silvery strands of cobwebs. Next to the tattered bed on which she now sat, a small wooden table held a single candle, a glass cup, and a dried blotch that looked suspiciously like blood. The grumbling Kisame was sitting on a wooden stool next to her bed, and there in the far corner on a sort of steel box was—

"Itachi-san, she's finally awake," Kisame announced.

"Yes, I can see that, Kisame," the Uchiha replied calmly with a touch of irritation at being pointed out the obvious.

The said kunoichi frowned and stared at the black-haired nin, her muddled thoughts trying but failing abysmally to connect what she had missed. His crimson eyes peered back at her with apparent apathy: wholly different from the blazing gleam she had seen… sometime before…

"Where am I?" Toriya finally asked.

"You are currently in the North tower of Amegakure," answered a deep voice.

Toriya's eyes quickly darted to the door, where Pein, the one who had spoken, was now present. Konan stood serenely behind him.

"_You_," snarled Toriya, remembering the incident with Shiro with bitter hatred. "What are you doing here?"

Pein raised an orange eyebrow.

"We are here because Amegakure is our base," he stated. "You are currently residing in our territory and in our hands, so I suggest you address us with more respect, Toriya-san."

The kunoichi scowled but decided wisely to comply, having noticed that she was greatly outnumbered in a one to four ratio.

"Fine," she said through gritted teeth. "First off, who changed my bandages?"

She looked pointedly at the new cloth that was of a different material from the one she had used back in Yukigakure.

"Konan did."

"Konan??"

Toriya practically screeched the name. The blue-haired kunoichi smiled grimly.

"I removed the remaining traces of Aoihachi in your chakra system, rokubi-chan," Konan said calmly. "Without them, the rokubi's power healed you quite quickly."

Indeed, Toriya noted that most of the pain and soreness were gone; she felt almost back to normal.

"How long have I been here?" she asked after a brief pause.

"About five days," answered Pein.

"And why did you bring me here?"

The Rinnegan wielder gestured towards Itachi and Kisame.

"They did, actually," he said, "on my orders."

"Why didn't you just go ahead and extract the rokubi from me?" Toriya inquired, frowning. "It would have been easy seeing as I was unconscious. What is it that you want with me?"

Pein smirked.

"You're sharp, Toriya-san. Very well. I will tell you what we expect of you."

"And…?"

"We want you to work for us."

Toriya scoffed.

"Like I would join Akatsuki. What kind of request is that?"

"It is not a request, Toriya-san," Pein returned patiently. "It is an order. We're not ordering you to join us; we merely want you to work for us."

"Tch… what's the difference?"

"There'll be different conditions."

"And if I reject your… _order_? You know I will, considering what I've done in the past."

Pein's smirk widened.

"You won't, Toriya-san. We've stationed our allies along the borders of Sunagakure. One wrong move and your village will be destroyed."

Toriya's eyes widened.

"When did this happen?" she demanded incredulously.

"You already know that Akatsuki accepts missions at low fees to gain more influence over the small countries," Pein explained. "It was simple; all we had to do was give them a push, and the lords of those countries agreed.

"Also, we will constrict your movements. Konan is going to keep track of what you do. There will be no communication with the outside, especially Suna. She will know immediately with her paper techniques. And when she does… Suna will be under heavy siege."

Toriya fell limp, feeling like a hapless, trapped animal.

"Speaking of Suna," Pein continued, "they have discovered the hitai-ate that you accidentally dropped back in the Kurotora incident."

Her stomach lurched at the reminder, and she shuddered involuntarily.

"And soon afterwards a falling rock slashed a line across the metal plate. We have received word that Suna has labeled you as a nuke-nin."

A tense silence followed this statement as Toriya's heart pounded wildly. It was all a misunderstanding, but considering her history of randomly leaving the village, she admitted that it was not surprising her village would call her a nuke-nin.

Now there was nowhere to go; she sighed in resignation, personally surprised that she didn't feel too grieved at the news. When did Suna lose its meaning to her?

"What do I have to do?" she asked dejectedly.

"For now, you'll remain here and recover," Pein said. "Then we'll give you further orders. All your belongings, except for your old clothes, are sitting in the sack at the corner."

"May I ask one more question?"

Pein inclined his head slightly in affirmation.

"What is Akatsuki's goal?"

The orange-haired man peered directly at her as though sizing her up. Toriya saw Konan give him a wary look.

"World domination," he answered simply.

Without another word, he turned away from her.

"Kisame, stay here and watch over her. Itachi, come with us."

The former Kiri nin nodded in understanding, while the latter nin stood up and followed Pein and Konan out the room.

Toriya simply fell back onto the bed, her mind crying in confusion while her face remained impassive.

**x-x-x-x-x**

"Why did you tell her so much information?" Konan asked, a frown upon her usually stoic face as the trio walked down the stairs of the tower.

"Madara-sama had ordered us to answer all her questions truthfully," came Pein's reply.

"Madara-san?" Itachi suddenly spoke, a tinge of caution laced in his otherwise calm voice. "Does he wish to speak to me?"

Pein gave him a half glance.

"Yes."

Itachi lapsed into an even greater silence as he brooded, wondering what the mysterious man—his master who had secretly trained him since he was young—wanted with him. Their teacher-student relationship had never been very cozy. In fact, Itachi had never addressed him with the proper "sensei" honorific, and Uchiha Madara had always peered condescendingly at the younger nin. However, Itachi recently began to sense a sort of frostiness congealing between them. He couldn't place a finger on it, and it continuously pestered him.

The trio now exited the tower and entered the pouring rain. Pein's chakra pulsed a little, and Itachi knew the leader was utilizing the jutsu that controlled the rain, swaying the droplets aside so that the three of them would not get wet.

Through the misty landscape of swirling mud and gloomy buildings, they crossed a slippery stone path to the second northern tower. Konan pushed open the stone door, which emitted a low creak and gave way to a two flights of stairs: one going up and the other going underground.

Having been here before, Itachi knew that the torches on the gray walls would light up as they trekked down the stairs and an empty hall. The flickering flames produced quivering shadows of the three nin as they made their way through the long underground structure. At the end of the hallway was another door: one with neither a handle nor a window.

Pein pressed his hand against the door and emitted a fraction of his chakra. Shuddering by the merest margins, the stone slate accepted his chakra signature and sank to the ground. Blinking through the dust in the wake of the opening entrance, Itachi strained his Sharingan eyes through the nearly impenetrable darkness though he already knew the identity of the tall man sitting regally upon the throne-like chair.

Veiled in the folds of the shifting dust and dusky lighting, the man stood up as the trio entered the gargantuan room. He bore his usual orange swirling mask and his Akatsuki cloak, stepping down from his pedestal and waited patiently for the other three nin to approach him.

"Itachi has returned, Madara-sama," Pein said, bowing respectfully.

A single Sharingan eye glittered through the hole in the mask.

"Very good," Madara said in a stately manner.

He raised his head and looked straight into Itachi's eyes.

Not for the first time while facing his teacher, Itachi felt a sliver of fear slither into his state of consciousness.

He hated it.

With a slight nod, Pein and Konan then exited the room and left him alone with the older man, who continued his regal gaze before finally breaking the tense silence.

"How are your eyes, Itachi-kun?"

Itachi bristled inside, hating him even more for asking about his eyesight.

"They're getting worse," the raven-haired nin responded evenly, making sure to mask his fear.

Madara took several steps forward until he was staring right at Itachi in the face.

"It will almost be time for you to obtain new eyes," the older man said.

In spite of himself, Itachi felt a thrill of a sensation he identified with a mixture of both apprehension and excitement. New eyes…

With the swish of his cloak, Madara turned around and returned up the stairs to his stone chair.

"We will wait around one more month until I have trained the rokubi jinchuuriki. Until then, Itachi-kun, try to refrain from using your Sharingan."

"Hai, Madara-san."

"You may now leave."

Itachi inclined his head and began his exit out the room.

"One more thing, Itachi-kun."

He stopped in his tracks.

"About that kunoichi… Keep in mind that shinobi are not supposed to harbor feelings of any sort, especially you, Itachi-kun."

"Hai," Itachi answered after a briefly hesitant pause, "Madara-san."

As he walked out the doorway, through the hall, and out into the pouring rain again, he grimaced internally, wondering how his teacher could know so much about him with just one glance.

**x-x-x-x-x**

Toriya was squirming uncomfortably.

It wasn't as though she was afraid of being under Kisame's gaze all the time. She just despised being stared at, especially if her observer was a blue-skinned, shark-like nuke-nin with violent, sadistic tendencies and an obsessive adoration with his damn blade.

And the silence was almost unbearable.

"Um… Kisame," she finally said in a frantic attempt to break the iceberg, "who is Madara?"

He shrugged.

"No clue. That was the first time I heard Itachi-san mention the name."

"Hm."

As she was not getting helpful responses, Toriya tugged at her bandages. She was awed by how nicely Konan had healed her wounds, though she would never admit it out loud.

"Toriya-san," Kisame spoke with a hint of mischievousness in his gruff voice, "what do you think about Itachi-san?"

She blinked.

"What do I think about…Itachi?" the kunoichi echoed stupidly, staring at Kisame.

Unwittingly, she felt her cheeks glow in a faint blush. She hastily looked down at her bandages again.

"Eh… Why would you ask such a question?"

Kisame grinned.

"You know, he was the one who carried you here from the desert. He never wanted me to even touch a strand of your hair."

"W-what are you implying?"

The ex-Kiri-nin shrugged again.

"I'll let you decide."

Before Toriya could retort, the door slid open. Konan, holding a wad of fresh bandages, strolled into the room with—her heart skipped a beat here—Itachi behind her.

"We're to head to the Land of Stone for another mission," the Uchiha said, addressing Kisame and blatantly ignoring the other nin occupying the room.

"Understood," responded Kisame. "Fill me in on the details later."

Both of them headed towards the door, but instead of pulling it open, Kisame held up the hand bearing his yellow Akatsuki ring. Making contact with the black circle, the ring glowed and allowed the door to slide open. Toriya grimly observed this strange process, knowing very well that this security was meant to confine her.

The two nin then stepped outside but not before Itachi gave a half glance back at her. Their gazes locked—crimson against auburn—and Toriya's heart skipped another beat.

Muffling the strange look she knew had crept on her face, she turned towards Konan, who began to redress her bandages when both men had left. When the blue-haired kunoichi's hand touched Toriya, the latter flinched and narrowed her eyes.

"Don't even think about it, rokubi-chan," Konan warned her.

"I'm not called 'rokubi-chan,'" the brown-eyed kunoichi muttered defiantly but still quietly allowed Konan's contact.

"It seems you're fully healed," Konan commented as she loosened the bandage wraps. "You're ready."

"Ready?" Toriya said suspiciously.

"Madara-sama will train you to properly control the rokubi's chakra."

**x-x-x-x-x**

In Suna, Gaara was inundated with even more paperwork than usual. Or perhaps this was an understatement, as his entire office was literally filled with stacks of papers, from newscasts requesting information about the recently fallen Kurotora or combat squad reports he had to look over before filing away into dusty cabinets. Being a very taciturn individual, it was not surprising that he preferred working in silence.

Thus it was with great annoyance that he answered to the knock on his office door.

"Come in," he said tonelessly.

Baki walked through the door with a hunter nin, masked with a cloth covering his face and sporting dark-colored clothes, right at his heels.

"Kazekage-sama," Baki stated, "this is the hunter nin who is assigned to capture Mizuiro Toriya."

"How many members are in the squad?"

"He's the only one."

"The only one?" Gaara said suspiciously.

"We can add more members if you like."

"It's fine…"

Gaara personally thought that Toriya could take care of one shinobi more handily, although it really was strange to send only one hunter nin after a nuke-nin.

"Baki-san," the hunter nin said, "I believe it's more appropriate to say that I _volunteered_ to catch Mizuiro."

"Ah, that's right."

"Volunteered?" Gaara frowned slightly.

"Hai, Kazekage-sama," Baki answered. "He is very experienced and has taken on many A-rank and S-rank missions."

Gaara sighed softly.

"Fine. Be on your way."

The nin bowed and disappeared in a flicker.

"Do you have his file?" Gaara asked Baki after a brief pause in the wake of the nin's departure.

"It's in here."

The man handed Gaara a thick file he had been clutching in his hand. Curiously, the latter nin opened the folder, fighting thick pages of the hunter nin's past missions until he reached the nin's profile in the front. There was no name, only the customary code name, but Gaara found those eyes to be vaguely familiar…

Now perched on a large rock in the desert, the said hunter nin chuckled darkly to himself, his golden-brown eyes glittering eerily in the light.

"Soon I'll be able to test your true strength, Toriya… my younger sister…"

* * *

**A/N**: The story will end in 2-3 more chapters! So you can pretty much imagine how quickly the rest is going to go. Apparently, multiple-chapter stories take quite a taxing toll on me, so I'll probably take a break and dawdle in oneshots for a while after I finish _Scarlet Sky_.

_Naruto_ (c) Kishimoto


	21. Flight

**Chapter 21: Flight**

* * *

Uchiha Madara gazed long and hard at the kunoichi standing nervously in front of him in the large underground room of the second north tower. Her golden brown eyes were steady, but he detected apprehension and uncertainty lurking behind her composed figure. Her new shozoku-like outfit was put together quickly and skillfully by Konan during Toriya's convalescence: a sleeveless top, a pair of shorts, and long black bands on her legs and arms. Very plain but very simple.

Then he knew how to introduce himself: Tobi style.

"Nice to meet you, Toriya-chan!" he finally shouted, throwing his hands in the air and leaping down from his pedestal.

"…"

"My name is Tobi! Tobi is a good boy. Toriya-chan may call me 'Tobi,' but better yet—" (he suddenly quieted down) "—call me Uchiha Madara."

Then it clicked. Several clicks, in fact.

"_Uchiha_ Madara?" she repeated. "Weren't you the founder of the Uchiha clan? Aren't you supposed to be dead? Actually… didn't you die several months ago in an explosion?"

"I am immortal," he stated simply. "As immortal as one can get, that is, with continuous life reserve renewals."

"Konan, and Itachi, said you wanted to train me."

"That is correct."

"Why, though?" Toriya persisted, still greatly confused. "Aren't you afraid that I'll use my new strength to attack you? Or bring down Akatsuki?"

Madara chuckled.

"The reason is simple," he remarked. "Essentially, you will not be able to defeat me or Akatsuki because I will ensure that your powers are put in check. And we wish to train you so that the six-tailed demon hawk's power will not be wasted, and you can utilize that power to benefit Akatsuki as an… employee, so to say. It's more convenient than if we extract the demon now. I'm sure Pein, who takes orders from me, has informed you of the consequences if you betray us."

"He has."

"Very well. Now I will explain to you the logistics of the rokubi's chakra."

Toriya nodded cautiously, tingling with anxiety.

"Some say the spirit of the demon hawk originated from the desert where you came from; others say it was created through the fusion of an ordinary hawk and a malicious spirit by an ancient priest. It certainly existed by the time I was around, and I have heard that its chakra is capable of granting anyone the most powerful eyes in the world. In any case, the rokubi is known for just that: its powerful eyesight in addition to its adept control of the wind and water. I believe you have learned how to use those elements quite handily in ninjutsu already.

"Although my Mangekyou can bend the kyuubi fox to my will, it cannot completely do the same to the rokubi. Nonetheless, I can still exert some power over it and will teach you the ways of channeling it in sync with your own chakra system. If you learn how to activate and master the rokubi's eyes, you will be able to read your opponents' moves, no matter how fast they are."

"May I ask one question…Madara-san?" Toriya interjected tentatively, still maintaining a careful distance from the man.

His orange masked glanced at her; she took it as an affirmation.

"What are the powers of the Sharingan? How can you control the bijuu?"

The crimson eye appeared through the hole in Madara's mask. Toriya felt a sudden chill, quivering deep within her soul despite her attempts to remain calm.

_He's very strong… even more so than Itachi…_ she realized in shock as cold sweat slid down her body. _There's absolutely no way I can defeat him at my current level._

"The Sharingan," Madara explained, ignoring the kunoichi's state of fear, "is comprised of two levels: the regular Sharingan and the Mangekyou Sharingan. The kaleidoscope shape of the Mangekyou then has three wheels, or forms, in its spiral: power, control, and life.

"The wheel of power is the ability to use Tsukuyomi, the illusion; Amaterasu, the flames of the sun; and Susanoo, the ultimate defense. Both Itachi-kun and I are able to use all three.

"The wheel of control is obtained by taking the Sharingan eyes of one's sibling to eradicate the aftereffects of blindness. Only by doing so can the user obtain a fresh pair of eyes and reach new heights: virtual immortality and control of the kyuubi."

He paused, anticipating the next question flickering in Toriya's eyes.

"Has Madara-san reached this level?" she whispered.

"I have."

She shivered at the mere thought of it.

"And… what about Itachi?"

"He has not—yet," he answered, sounding a little sadistically amused, "if he ever does."

"Please continue…" she muttered, still disturbed.

"And finally," resumed Madara, "there is the wheel of life. It is able to revive any one member of the dead back to life. The price of sacrifice is enormous, one of which includes the user's loss of the Mangekyou. However, the wheel of life is purely hypothetical, as even I have never attained or used it despite my knowledge of its existence."

Toriya decided not to probe further to find out about the other sacrifices.

"Does that answer your question, Toriya-chan?"

"Hai," she responded, attempting to insert some more confidence into her timbre.

"Now… we shall start your training."

**x-x-x-x-x**

In the roughly one month during Toriya's confinement, Madara trained her how to utilize the power of the rokubi without losing control. She had shown great progress and was even able to go up to three tails. However, she was having problems maintaining the activation of its eyes, which were supposed to turn her chestnut brown orbs into those of shimmering golden seas against midnight black with gray concentric circles radiating from a dark red pupil.

Nonetheless, Madara was pleased, and the harsh training always left Toriya stumbling back to her room in the tower with a sorely aching body, a throbbing headache, and a case of extremely dry eyes. As per her "employment," she had been sent on a few missions alongside some Akatsuki members merely as surveillance or as a precautionary measure.

Her trip back to the tower was always escorted by Konan's plastic, water-proof origami crane. Once back in her gloomy room at the top of the first north tower, the brown-haired kunoichi would wait patiently under the watch of Konan's surveillance papers, which were able to detect changes in her chakra levels—meaning Toriya could not use any jutsu for any purposes. And there was also the issue of the high security door. And Suna, which she tried so hard not to think about…

Despite her alienation from Suna, it was painful to think that her home had rejected her. From time to time, during a blustering rainstorm while she stared out the misty window, she would wonder how Kai was faring, whether Kon was still as clumsy as ever, if Temari and Kankuro had improved their skills, how Gaara was holding up as the Kazekage…

But then she would snap back to reality and forcefully convince herself that it was all in the past and would never resurface again. Memories of Suna and her family were all crinkled, faded photographs, after all, and would never return to haunt her.

She slowly buried her past self.

**x-x-x-x-x**

One month after Itachi met Madara for the first time in a long while, both Uchiha reunited once again in the underground room.

"It is time, Itachi-kun," Madara pronounced. "As you know, the eyes of a user of Mangekyou Sharingan sink into darkness until they are replaced by those of the user's sibling. Just as I plucked out my younger brother's eyes, you must take your brother Sasuke-kun's eyes in order to gain new heights in power."

Itachi said nothing and waited patiently.

_It is time…_

Suddenly, Madara struck at Itachi with a force likened to lightning. The former man had executed the move so swiftly and so skillfully that Itachi did not have time to react. In another blink of an eye, the attack was gone. At first, it seemed as though nothing had happened. Just as abruptly, Itachi crumbled to the ground on his knees, weakened and trembling and gasping and sweating in raw fear, all his usual composure lost.

"It's a must that you take Sasuke-kun's eyes, Itachi-kun… if you wish to survive," Madara murmured. "Your eyes are growing blind. Not only will that attack accelerate the process but will also begin to eat away at your body on the cellular level."

"Madara-san," Itachi whispered shakily, feeling both confused and deceived, "was your wish of making me strong a lie?"

"I had every intention of making you strong for my own benefits," the older nin replied.

"Then why did you attack me?"

"Because… I want Sasuke-kun."

"That… my foolish little brother?"

Itachi gritted his teeth and glared at his teacher with a burning hatred he never knew he possessed. He had been betrayed and used. Shinobi were supposed to be mere tools, after all, but he was too hurt at being so carelessly tossed aside.

"Go now, Itachi-kun," ordered Madara, "if you want to live. Prove your worth to me by finally killing your brother. He should be in the forest at the borders of the Land of Fire."

Itachi stood up. The pain from the attack was subsiding, but he still felt the slash of betrayal even with the return of his stoic façade.

"Hai, Madara-san," he said coldly, staring right into his teacher's one eye.

He bowed stiffly and left under Madara's gaze. Underneath his mask, Madara smirked.

"Once Sasuke-kun kills you, I will be one more step closer to my goal," he whispered, trembling in excitement at the thought of it. "Just a little longer and I'll be able to see my brother again…"

**x-x-x-x-x**

As Itachi left the underground, he impulsively decided to pay Toriya a visit. Ignoring the pelting rain, he walked across the wet path and trekked up the spiraling staircase of the other tower. Each step up the stairs made his legs quaver even more, but he consoled himself that he had bore much greater pain in the past before.

"Oh hello, Itachi-kun," Konan greeted him at the doorway of Toriya's room when he reached the top level. "Rokubi-chan is currently eating the meal I delivered to her."

"That's fine, Konan-san," he said quietly.

She inclined her head in acknowledgement and headed down the stairs.

Itachi paused in front of the door that Konan hadn't bothered to close due to his arrival. Having only caught glimpses of Toriya from time to time, he found himself feeling nervous about finally being able to see her.

_Strange._

Blinking through his darkening eyes, Itachi slowly stepped through doorway.

Toriya, with chopsticks in hand, greeted him with a slightly surprised look. Her eyes, he noted suddenly, were empty and devoid of... emotion. He somehow felt a little sad seeing the sparkle in her beautiful eyes gone, yet he was also soothed that someone in this world was feeling the same hollowness as he was feeling now.

"I'm leaving for a special mission near Konoha, Toriya-chan," he spoke.

"What for?"

He paused, finding an appropriate response as the tapping rain against the misty window filled in the still silence.

"To reach new heights."

Toriya nearly dropped the bowl of miso soup she was holding. Itachi glanced at her.

"Is something wrong, Toriya-chan?"

"Ah, no. Nothing. My hand just slipped," she said brightly.

Forcing a smile on her face, the kunoichi began shoving tofu and seaweed into her mouth to reassure Itachi that she was perfectly fine. Deep inside, she began to wonder and worry; Madara had said the exact same words to her one month ago.

"Toriya."

The kunoichi blinked, startled out of her musings.

He had just called her name without an honorific.

Suspiciously, she stood up and stared at his face. Although it was still wearing the same expressionless look, she realized that there was something missing. What was it?

"Toriya," Itachi began again, "take care of yourself."

She pensively placed her half-empty soup bowl on the table, pondering his strange behavior.

"I will," she said softly. "Is… is there something wrong?"

He looked at her, and their gazes locked. Once again, she was surprised to see another different aspect: his eyes, cold and mysterious as usual, were now black and empty. No Sharingan.

In a moment, he was right in front of her.

"Itachi?" she said, startled.

Reaching out a hand, the said nin cupped her face and continued his steady gaze.

"Did Madara-san ever hurt you?" he whispered.

"Eh… no… not intentionally…"

"Good."

Itachi broke eye contact then and sighed. His vacant black eyes stared blankly out the misty window. Toriya wavered, her mind flutteringly wildly in confusion at his bizarre behavior.

"Um… Itachi?"

He turned towards her again and, without a word, with the blazing look having returned into his obsidian eyes, pressed closer and closer until nothing could keep them apart—she was melting into his orbs of black fire—could count every—eyelash—he was a breath away—heart pounded so loudly—closed her eyes—so warm—so relishing—

When they broke apart from the tender kiss, Toriya's head was spinning almost giddily. Itachi's eyes flickered back into their empty dormant state as he gazed into her face, seeming to be pondering and perhaps even regretting his action, for it was very out of his character to do so.

Itachi stepped away from the kunoichi to hide the tiniest hint of his curved lips, admitting to himself that he enjoyed it despite the persisting pain throughout his body. His heart tugged at him, begging to stay, but the reasonable mind of Uchiha Itachi knew he had a mission to fulfill.

"Take care of yourself," he repeated in a soft voice. "Good-bye…Toriya."

With Toriya staring in a daze at him, he headed towards the door, giving her once last glance before bidding her farewell and pressing his Akatsuki ring against the black circle.

Once the door clicked shut, Toriya snapped out of her reverie. Her heart was pounding as she connected the dots… realizing what exactly the "special mission" was…

For Itachi to "reach new heights," he had to gain the second wheel of the Mangekyou. And in order to gain the second wheel, he had to gain new eyes, which meant he would be after Sasuke, who had recently (as she had heard through the grapevine) taken over Orochimaru's white snake and was planning on searching for Itachi…

In short, both brothers were walking straight into a direct confrontation with each other.

_Was this Madara-san's plan all along?_

Extremely uneasy, Toriya tried to convince herself that Itachi was strong, he was a master of the Sharingan; he couldn't possibly lose to Sasuke, right?

The image of the younger Uchiha's angry black eyes back at Orochimaru's Oto hideout flashed through her mind, and she considered Itachi's strange behavior and ashen face.

Something was wrong. And she felt Itachi was going to be in trouble.

But what could she do?

Munching pensively on her rice, Toriya's eyes wandered to her knapsack sitting placidly at the corner of the room. As memories from the past month flooded her mind, she suddenly remembered Pein said they had left her with all her original belongings.

She jumped straight up, spilling her rice bowl into the ground. Completely ignoring the fallen article, she immediately made her way to her bag and rifled through its pockets. Kunai… explosive tags… shuriken… soldier pill wrappers… random bird feathers… and there it was: _the ring that she had picked up in Orochimaru's hideout_.

Her head singing in elated victory, Toriya leaned against the wall and gazed in wonderment at the sapphire blue ring. Never had she thought that she would benefit from that visit to Oto from what seemed to be a long time ago. She usually tossed anything she happened to pick up into her knapsack—a habit that usually annoyed Tsumemaru, who from time to time would clean out her bag for her. Now she was glad she had such a habit.

The ring's design was very similar to that of the rings of the other Akatsuki members. No, in fact, it _was_ an Akatsuki ring, as Orochimaru used to be a member. If she could successfully use it to open the door…

Careful to restrain her chakra from pulsing too much lest she alert Konan, the kunoichi ambled over to the door and slowly lowered the ring to the black circle. The moment narrowed down into that one action, with a held breath and wide eyes as she raptly watched the circle tremble very slightly and, accepting the signature of the ring, allow the door to open.

Toriya gaped.

Would her escape be this easy?

She was strangely breathing calmly now. Perhaps it would work. Perhaps luck would be on her side. She only needed to be careful and avoid being caught.

_Easier said than done, _the kunoichi thought, grimacing.

Immediately she foresaw the problems: she could run into Pein, Konan, or, even worse, Madara; Pein's rain could detect the chakra of anyone passing through the precipitation, and he would certainly recognize her chakra signature; and once she was caught, Suna would be attacked.

Just then, she frowned at the thought of Suna. Pein had to be bluffing when he said Akatsuki's allies were stationed around the village. No reasonable daimyo would be willing to send troops to a certain location for a _month_.

"Nice threat, Pein," Toriya murmured, "but it won't work on me. I've long been estranged from Suna, anyway."

Reminded of the time when she managed to slip through the clutches of the Land of Green Bean guards, Toriya smiled grimly at the uncanny similarities between the two situations. Back then, she had escaped merely for her own sake. This time, however, she was escaping not only for herself but also for Itachi.

And so she stepped outside the door that had once confined her and took flight into the world of tentative freedom.

* * *

**Glossary**:

**shozoku** – the typical black ninja full-body outfit, complete with a cloth that covers the lower part of the face (source: Wikipedia)

* * *

**A/N**: Meh, I don't like making characters talk to themselves in their minds, but it was necessary to get it down. Note the Sharingan technicalities! They will be referred to later on.

I wonder if anyone even remembered Toriya picking up the ring? O.o

Also, did some parts of this chapter seem too abrupt to you? Please tell me if that's the case. I'd like to improve my story-writing. Believe it or not, this is the first time I've written such a long story! Usually I stick with short stories.

Virtual miso soup to Stickman-sam, RebelFlame, Alumia, Transient Shadow, and Belladonna-Isabella for R&Ring! Yum.

* * *

_Naruto_ (c) Kishimoto


	22. Reunion

_Previously__** – **__Chapter 21: Flight_

_Reminded of the time when she managed to slip through the clutches of the Land of Green Bean guards, Toriya smiled grimly at the uncanny similarities between the two situations. Back then, she had escaped merely for her own sake. This time, however, she was escaping not only for herself but also for Itachi._

_And so she stepped outside the door that had once confined her and took flight into the world of tentative freedom._

* * *

**Chapter 22: Reunion**

* * *

"_Nii-san, can you help me with my shuriken training today?"_

"_Not today, Sasuke," Itachi answers, "I'm busy."_

_The young boy gives his brother a childish pout._

"_You always say that and poke my forehead. When are you ever going to have time?"_

_Itachi smiles and bids his little brother forward, who blinks and ambles towards Itachi until he is close enough for Itachi to implant a _poke_ on his forehead._

"_Maybe some other day."_

The memory dissipated in Itachi's mind as he frowned amidst the flares of chakra in the thick of the woods. Why was he having these thoughts? Didn't he cut off all family ties and bonds long ago?

"DIE, ITACHI!!"

The same little brother now charged towards with blazing Sharingan eyes, his chokuto raised and sizzling with the electric current of chidori. The older brother easily dodged the attack but immediately flinched when the growing pain from Madara's earlier attack lashed out again. Itachi quickly jumped to the temporary safety of the trees, half wishing that he could have found the strength to stop his brother with genjutsu. Their battle, fought with illusions, had ended when Sasuke had managed to break through and survive Itachi's Tsukuyomi.

_I'm running out of time_, Itachi thought in uncharacteristic frustration as he observed, with his right eye, Sasuke charging up for another attack in the clearing. His left eye continued to quiver strangely from the aftereffects of Tsukuyomi. _I should hurry up and—_

"_**Prove your worth to me by finally killing your brother."**_

Madara's chilling words served as an impetus in fueling Itachi into action. He had to work up the nerve and finally kill Sasuke; he had to! He had to suppress his feelings and kill his foolish little brother! Working quickly and stealthily, he stringed some shuriken onto two wires and sent them flying towards the younger Uchiha.

Sasuke recognized the traditional technique of the clan and jumped to avoid the sharp stars. Itachi's shadow clone appeared above him and created a fireball in a blur of hand seals. The Goukakyuu blazed towards the airborne Sasuke, who gritted his teeth and pressed a finger against the seal sign on his bandaged wrist. With similar deftness, he summoned a giant shuriken and whirled it around to capture the fireball. Sending tendrils of his chakra through the metal, he managed to control the fire and send the fiery weapon flying at Itachi.

"I'm not as weak as I used to be," Sasuke growled.

The older Uchiha merely narrowed his eyes (in pain or anger?) and performed another set of hand seals in the wake of the blazing shuriken racing towards him. Dark blood trickled down his right eye.

"**Amaterasu**."

Black, Sasuke gaped. Black flames. The legendary flames of the sun that could even consume other fires. Another, as he had learned in the Uchiha scrolls, frightening technique of the Sharingan. Now the only option was to run.

As the skies darkened and rumbled, Sasuke jumped from branch to branch, never looking back and always hearing the ominous flicker of the black flames at his heels. A bead of sweat slipped down his face, and he realized with alarm that it was getting hot. He looked up and cursed when he saw that Amaterasu had caught up to him from the canopies above. He swerved but could not dodge a falling branch from brushing against him and setting his robes on fire. In a single powerful surge, he tumbled out of the thinning woods and landed in open space. The flames continued to consume him.

"No, no, no…" he muttered, "I can't die here… No, it's impossible… I must… I must…"

Sasuke roared angrily and felt the familiar tingling sensation of the curse seal's power rush through his chakra network. Ghastly blue wings tore through what was left of the upper half of his robes. At the same time, the flames stopped progressing—Itachi had lost focus. Himself stumbling out of the woods, the older Uchiha collapsed onto the ground and clutched his right eye.

Pain, such pain… He cried. Crimson tears continued to trickle down his pale cheeks. Was it worth it? Killing his humaneness, his entire clan? And now attempting to kill his brother… for the second time?

Sasuke rose from his crouched position on the rocky ground. In the second stage of his cursed seal, his burnt wing, still on fire, had disconnected from his body. Another was swiftly growing in its place. Itachi vaguely registered that the regeneration was a technique of Orochimaru.

"This is where you end," Sasuke hissed, "you bastard."

He raised his sizzling chokuto, filled with such intensely crackling electricity and clutched so tightly by menacing clawed hands, and directed the blade straight at his fallen brother. Itachi closed his eyes in acceptance, into the growing darkness that had been plaguing him for so long now. Perhaps this was for the best…

A sharp crack broke through his silent submission. Surprised, Itachi opened his eyes, raising his head, squinting at the two crossed blades, squinting at the other figure above him.

_It couldn't be…_

"Well, well, you're looking quite beat up, Itachi," Toriya smiled.

**x-x-x-x-x**

Toriya was distinctly satisfied to see the looks of surprise etched on the two faces. It had not been an easy trek, however, after she took flight from the tower in the Land of Rain. If Pein's rain had been falling, it would have been nearly impossible to escape, since the precipitation jutsu could detect presences and chakra levels. The fates had smiled upon her this time, though; the skies were merely overcast, and she could slip out of the country the old-fashioned way, that is, simply getting out unnoticed. Along the way, Toriya had accidentally encountered a guard-nin who happened to be passing by. Apparently her luck did not last very long. It had not been very relaxing afterwards, as she had to fight through the crowds of charging, albeit low-leveled, nin. As a result, she was not in tiptop condition: her outfit was torn and slightly bloodied, and her eyes were very mildly dry from using rokubi's eyes.

Now she clenched her hands around her katana, enhanced with her chakra, and pushed Sasuke backwards. The latter nin stopped his slide and scowled, his eyes flickering in recognition as he remembered her infiltration in Oto.

"What are you doing here?" he said in a low, dangerous voice.

She frowned.

"Are you… Sasuke-kun?"

"Who else would I be?" he snapped.

"That's the second stage of his cursed seal," Itachi murmured from behind her, "from Orochomaru."

"Ah. You look quite different… Well, I believe I took a rain check for a match with you, Sasuke-kun," she replied placidly.

"Hmph. Can't this wait?"

"Of course not," she responded, her mild nature dissipating into a threatening one.

_Focus, focus!_ Her chakra began to spike. _Draw upon the rokubi's powers._ Golden tendrils surrounded her limbs and her body. Two chakra tails emerged, and her eyes changed color to reveal golden pupils on black.

"I will protect Itachi, and I cannot let you pass."

Itachi made a soft sound, either out of pain or surprise, behind her.

"Fine," Sasuke snapped, despite his amazement at her transformation, "if you insist on defending that murderous fuck, then I have no choice but to kill you too!"

He charged, electricity-filled chokuto raised. Toriya took a firm stand and resumed enhancing her katana with wind-type chakra.

"You'd better step into the woods, Itachi," she whispered quickly. "It's safer there."

"Why?" he muttered in thick confusion.

Looking back, she could see with alarm that his left eye was glazing over out of blindness, that his right eye was already shut tight, the skin near it cracked with dry blood.

"Why save me?"

"You don't really need a reason to save another," Toriya smiled a bit sadly after a slight pause. _And… I love you. _"Take care for now."

Then the kunoichi lashed forward to block Sasuke's blade again, which rebounded this time and trembled, as though in pain.

"What…?" he gasped.

"Don't you remember from your ninjutsu lessons?" Toriya taunted. "Wind chakra is stronger than electric chakra."

"That may be so…" Sasuke replied coldly, "but…"

He jumped to higher ground, taking a swiveling path in circles and continuously charging his blade as he went.

_What is he doing_… Toriya wondered in frustration. _Wind will always beat electricity unless_…

Her eyes widened in sudden realization.

_Unless there's more electricity to overcome the power of the wind. By moving in circles, he's generating more electricity like a turbine engine!_

"Seems you've finally realized it," Sasuke called, charging towards her once again but with more than tenfold the amount of electricity. "It's too late to do anything now."

She gritted her teeth and braced herself when the two chakra-powered blades collided once again. This time, Toriya knew her katana couldn't take the extreme level of electricity despite her valiant attempt at adding more wind chakra. Indeed, her blade began to crack, and with a shattering cry, it broke into large, jagged pieces.

That moment was suspended in Toriya's mind as she watched helplessly the demise of her beloved blade (all those battles they had together! all those training sessions!) its metal shards twinkling dully as they fell to the ground, shuddered, and lied dead. She had become too overconfident, and Sasuke had taken advantage of it.

"Now you're dead!" he roared, raising his chokuto once more.

Forcing her mind to refocus her attention, Toriya reacted swiftly and dodged the attack just in time. The kunoichi managed to avoid all contact with the blade with her taijutsu and sharp golden eyes, but she knew she could not stay on the defensive all the time. _Focus. Think._

She created an earth clone and let it take the next slash, while she hopped away to safety. Sasuke scowled in frustration when the clone dispersed and entwined his blade and right arm with mud vines.

"Child's play," he growled.

Easily, his electric blade sliced through the mud. Taking Toriya's position into sight, he headed towards her, summoning some shuriken with his left hand as he went. Perched on a rock, she performed some hand seals to release a technique she had been practicing but had not completely mastered.

"**Doton: Yomi Numa!**"

A small swamp, far from the grandiose size it was supposed to be, was formed right in front of Sasuke, who immediately fell in it with a cry. Toriya frowned at her execution; it had always been difficult for her to manipulate such massive amounts chakra with earth-type techniques. Unlike wind-type jutsu, those of the earth type did not come so easily to her. In spite of that, the creation of the swamp had been successful in stopping Sasuke in his tracks. Seeing Sasuke already beginning to disperse the sticky mud with chidori current, Toriya flicked more hand seals.

"**Futon: Daitoppa!**"

A powerful blast of wind immersed Sasuke and the swamp. In the resulting whirl of leaves, sand, and mud, Toriya lost sight of the Uchiha. It was a grave mistake on her part, as Sasuke took the opportunity to substitute his body with a rock and proceed to impale her with a direct chidori. Not expecting this, Toriya gasped in pain and fell off the rock and onto the ground. Even though the rokubi's chakra protected her, it could not defend against the entire impact of the powerful jutsu, and she began to bleed freely.

"Is that it?" Sasuke scoffed. "For all that talk, you aren't much, Toriya."

He withdrew his blade, ignoring the spurt of blood that followed in its wake.

"I won't kill you," the Uchiha avenger added as he walked away. "You're not who I want dead. Stay out of this."

The injured kunoichi coughed in response and winced at her gaping wound. Pressing a finger against the torn flesh in her abdomen, she raised her hand to see it painted scarlet.

_This isn't much_, she thought, _I should be able to stand it. I've been through more pain than this before! _

_Focus! I need more power, more chakra. I must save Itachi. Focus, focus!_

Using the strategies she had fostered while under Madara's training, she dug deeper into the cavern of her subconsciousness where the stirring demon hawk resided, tapping into its strength and bending its chakra to her will.

_Perfect. Now enter my chakra network. Flow, flow. And release!_

The feebly-throbbing chakra web around her shot into full blast, forming wings and even a third tail: her known limit, as determined during the training. After the rokubi's chakra healed her wound, she crouched and built up power before lurching forward. Blasting through rocks and sending loose mud and leaves flying in a flurry, she charged towards Sasuke's back with a raised talon-hand. Sensing the sudden gargantuan chakra source behind him, Sasuke whirled around but was too slow to avoid the strike. He staggered backwards, his flesh burning, but instantly righted himself and shot into the air. Toriya followed.

They continued their midair battle for quite some time, each refusing to give in with each cut, each flash, each roar. As the battle progressed, Toriya was constantly trying to read Sasuke's movements, which remained blurry.

_With his Sharingan, he clearly has the advantage_, she thought in frustration. _I need to somehow tap into the full power of these eyes._

Momentarily distracted when she could not predict his next stance, Sasuke struck her with one of his hand-like wings and followed with one of his oldest moves: **Shishi Rendan**. The taijutsu, consisting of a set of kicks, ultimately crushed Toriya to the ground. The impact seemed to clear something in her chakra, as she suddenly found herself able to overcome a barrier. She could see! She could see, very clearly and very distinctly, every one of Sasuke's next moves! With the eyes, golden irises and red pupils against a black sea of concentric gray circles, Toriya summoned all her remaining strength and struck Sasuke's chest with pinpoint accuracy. He choked, blood dribbling down his front, and stumbled, having come into direct contact, not once but twice, with a demon's chakra.

_Now for the final blow._

But before the kunoichi could do anything else, she suddenly felt drained of all power. The golden chakra was gone.

"What the hell?" she gasped. "_Oi, stupid bird! What's happening?_"

Entering her subconsciousness had nearly become second nature after the training, and now she needed to talk to the lumbering hawk demon.

"_**Funny how you're so desperate for my power now when you were trying to suppress them months ago**__," the rokubi sneered behind the bars in the cavern._

"_Shut up. Do you want to survive or not?"_

"_**Fufufu, nothing I can do about it. That Madara put a second seal during your training."**_

"_What?? I never heard anything of it."_

"_**I'd say he feared that you would use my power against him, the power that you have fostered under his training. So he secretly placed a second seal to limit how much chakra you can draw. Any more than three tails and you cannot use any more chakra."**_

"_What the hell!" she repeated, at a loss for words._

Definitely not the best circumstance to be in. But Sasuke was down anyway (knocked unconscious?), and perhaps she _should_ be thankful; continuous exposure to the rokubi's chakra was eating away at her skin. Despite the fast healing abilities of the rokubi, her arms were stinging with the exposure of the raw flesh to the air. Then she collapsed as well.

That familiar nauseous feeling, as though she needed to vomit but could not. Leaden muscles that seemed to be carrying bricks. A sickening feeling she had experienced many times during previous training: she was depleted of chakra. How could the second seal, which was meant to cut off the rokubi's power, affect her own chakra? After all these years of widespread traveling and battling, all these thoughtless encounters with threatening S-rank shinobi, all these months of harsh training under a dangerous shinobi elevated to nearly a mythical, infamous status… only then did she realize how reckless she had been. Completely oblivious to her own well-being. Overly self-confident in her abilities and now paying the price for taking advantage of her own pride.

But Sasuke was down! She had achieved what she had planned to do after escaping from the Land of Rain: she had succeeded in protecting Itachi. Thinking of the man, she attempted to stand but found she had no strength left. Instead, Toriya resorted to crawling across the cracked, bloodied land towards where she had last seen the Sharingan master. And there he was still: leaning against a spruce tree with closed eyes, expressionless face poorly masking his pain.

"Itachi…" she murmured, "how are you feeling?"

The said nin managed to open his left eye and peer at the kunoichi, who had sat up.

"Fine," he replied dully.

"You don't look fine. What happened to your right eye?"

"I used Amaterasu. You… don't look too well either, Toriya."

"Forget about that," she said dismissively in spite of the nauseous and leaden feelings. "We need to get to somewhere safe."

Itachi frowned and gave feeble attempts at resisting her tugs.

"Wait," he said quietly, "you still haven't answered why you wanted to save me."

"We can talk about that later," Toriya scoffed impatiently.

"Don't avoid the question."

Annoyed, the kunoichi looked sharply Itachi, wondering how he could still sound so calm and reserved in his injured state, his black left eye staring almost unseeingly into her brown orbs while he had the nerve to order her around in his state.

"Fine," she sighed, relenting. "If you insist… it's because… I care for you, alright?"

Despite her offhand voice, she was blushing, thinking of the strange times they had together and… the kiss. Kami-sama, why is this so hard? Uncannily, she was glad Itachi was nearly blind and couldn't see her expression.

"Hm," was his short reply.

Followed by an awkward pause.

"Alright, can we go now?" Toriya implored, hastily adding, "We need to take care of our wounds."

"Aa."

Taking that as an affirmative, the kunoichi was preparing to somehow lift up Itachi when she felt a sharp sting on her upper right arm and a chilling coldness spread through her veins. Her left hand reached over and pulled out—

"Two shuriken," she whispered fearfully, staring at the weapons, which seemed to have been dipped in a black substance, "and they appear to be…"

"Poisoned?" finished a cold voice. "That's right."

Toriya stiffened, recognizing the voice. _It couldn't be!_ She turned in the direction of the voice and saw someone who she would not have imagined to see in her life.

"Kuroe??"

Her brother, her brother who was supposed to have died in the wipe-out of their clan, was standing on a rock not too far from Sasuke's body. He merely smirked.

* * *

**GLOSSARY**:

**Doton: Yomi Numa** – Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld

**Futon: Daitoppa** – Wind Release: Great Breakthrough

**Shishi Rendan** – Lion Combo

* * *

**A/N**: -guilt trip- Fine, fine. It's summer. I was lazy. I had a major mind block on how to write the action. I was more interested in another fic. But now there's one more chapter to go! I should post it soon. Bountiful thanks to Transient Shadow, Kary666, Belladonna-Isabella, Alumia, RebelFlame, Siry Pop, SadisticVampiress, Pookymoochie, Mistyfalls, and TheContheDistance for reviewing/subscribing.

* * *

_Naruto_ (c) Kishimoto


	23. Finale

_Previously__** – **__Chapter 22: Reunion_

"_Kuroe?"_

_Her brother, her brother who was supposed to have died in the wipe-out of their clan, was standing on a rock not too far from Sasuke's body. He merely smirked._

_

* * *

_

**Chapter 23: Finale**

**

* * *

**

"Kuroe… why are you here?" Toriya stammered. "I thought were you were…"

"Dead?" he finished for her once again. "Yes—" (here he twirled his hunter-nin mask around in his hand) "—everyone believed me dead after the Oto-nin slaughtered our clan. But I survived! I lived on until this day so that I could test your strength!"

"You coward. You probably ran off before those Oto-nin came, didn't you? You knew Orochimaru was going to send them to kill us off!"

"Now, now. That's quite an insult, little sister. I was merely looking out for my own protection. Anyone would do the same."

"Anyone other than you would have protected the clan."

Kuroe scowled.

"And what's wrong with wiping out a weak clan?" the brown-haired nin roared. "Only the best can survive, so all I did was to ensure the survival of the strong. They would have died eventually. And you, my sister, are one of the strong ones."

"And you wanted to test me by poisoning me first?"

"The first sign of your demise. A shinobi of your level should have been able to detect the shuriken. How pitiful you've become, enamored by a man."

Toriya stiffened.

"What… Say that again, you bastard!" she shouted, preparing to charge at him.

But before she could take another step, she collapsed onto the ground.

_Shit, I forgot I'm completely out of chakra_, Toriya cursed.

"Ah, ah, ah," Kuroe said lightly, wagging a finger at her, "you shouldn't move around so much. It'll only spread the poison more quickly."

"Toriya," Itachi suddenly put in, "I'll take him on."

"But you're injured—"

"And you can't even move," he replied, the merest trace of a smirk on his lips.

"…alright," Toriya relented, clutching the wounds where the poison entered, "go ahead."

He stepped forward, managing not to stumble. Kuroe chuckled.

"A blind shinobi is taking me on now?" the latter nin sneered.

Itachi said nothing. Instead, he turned his head in the direction of Kuroe's voice, detecting and memorizing his chakra signature.

"Fine," Kuroe scoffed in response to Itachi's silence, "play the tough guy. I'll take you out first, then!"

He whipped out a scroll and summoned a torrent of shuriken, all dipped in venom. They flew towards Itachi's solitary figure, spinning ominously. Toriya saw the Uchiha hesitate for a moment before forming a quick hand seals.

"**Doton: Doroku Gaeshi!**"

Itachi created a wave in the earth that rose and swelled to fend away the poisoned shuriken. As the weapons thudded against the raised mud, he dashed out, still flicking hand seals, to where Kuroe stood in a flash. Toriya gasped at his speed even in his condition.

"Wha—" Kuroe began in surprise.

"**Amaterasu**."

Toriya felt a cold chill run down her spine at the single word.

"Wait, Itachi!" she shouted. "Don't kill him!"

The Sharingan master started and surprised Toriya by shutting his right eye, which had started to bleed again, in order to stop triggering the black flames. At first stunned, then confident once more at seeing Itachi freeze, Kuroe snatched at the opportunity to land what would have been a life-threatening blow had Itachi not shifted aside just in time. Immediately, the black-haired nin retaliated by elbowing Kuroe's belly and, in a series of impressive taijutsu, flipping and crushing the latter nin onto the ground—all accomplished with virtually blind eyes. A soft shuffling sound caught his attention. Even without peering down with his darkening sight, Itachi knew that Toriya had been slowly crawling over.

"He's…" she began.

"Your brother is still alive."

"Thank you for not killing him, but… he's not my brother," Toriya muttered defiantly. "My real brother died long ago."

"Really now," Kuroe said grimly in his injured state, "don't say things like that when your very own oniisan is here."

"Tch. What nonsense," she snapped. "Then tell me why you helped those Oto-nin and how you survived!"

Kuroe gave a long, deep sigh (some blood specked out from his mouth) before answering the questions. Toriya's glare bored into him as he spoke.

"As you probably know," he began, "I wanted to take out my anger against our insufferable clan. I suppose I was selfish, but I can't do anything about the dead now. The night everyone died, I admit I fled before the Oto-nin could arrive. I even faked my own death so that survivors would not know that I was alive. But I was frightened… ashamed at my own cowardice and weakness. I had to get stronger so people could actually respect me!"

His voice trembled with rage at this point, but the brown-haired nin continued his story with the same even tempo. Toriya continued to stare at him evenly.

"I threw away my name and trained. Trained without the help neither the Mizuiro clan nor our hawk partners, for I had been abandoned. Later on, I convinced Suna's hunter-nin squad to take me in by displaying the skills and jutsu I had picked up from various missions during my journeys. Once I entered their ranks, I grew even stronger. It was the perfect opportunity to take the guise of a hunter-nin tracking down a nuke-nin when I heard you had been exiled. I had to test you out and see if you really are strong."

"You conceited bastard," Toriya growled angrily.

"Heh, that's what you think. Little did I know that I wasn't even a match for Itachi here. I'll die without understanding your true strength, Toriya… that's the one thing I'll regret… but…"

He coughed and more blood dribbled down his front. Then he grinned maniacally.

"At least you'll die with me."

"What are you talking about? Itachi didn't give you any fatal blows!"

"No," Kuroe snickered, "I poisoned myself with the same poison in your bloodstream. I'll die soon. You'll follow me in a matter of minutes."

"What?" Itachi said, uncharacteristically alarmed as he grabbed Kuroe by the scruff of his neck. "Toriya is going to die?"

"Yes, unfortunately for you. The poison goes directly to the heart and stops the blood flow."

"Where is the antidote?" the Uchiha demanded angrily in a low voice.

"There is none," Kuroe cackled.

Then his eyes widened, momentarily bloodshot, his body gave a few shudders and spasms, his skin turned a pallid color, and Mizuiro Kuroe was dead.

"No… antidote?" Itachi repeated fearfully into the ensuing silence.

Right on cue, Toriya's arms that had been lifting her up gave way as she began to shudder from the effects of the poison.

"Toriya!"

Itachi held her gingerly after fumbling to find the fallen kunoichi's body. She couldn't die! Not after she had protected him from an early death (he glanced blindly at the direction of Sasuke's feebly reverberating chakra to ascertain that the younger Uchiha was still unconscious), not after she had taught him to love and care for others!

Toriya coughed out bits of blood and smiled wearily at Itachi as she rested in his arms, dully noting with slight bemusement how uncharacteristically the Uchiha was acting.

"I guess my time is up…" she murmured, her brown eyes beginning to glaze over. "It's been… a good life, I guess…"

"No…" Itachi whispered. His eyes struggled to make sense of the blurs of color that made up Toriya's visage. "Don't say that…"

In his desperation, his mind lighted upon something… something powerful and mystical that Madara had spoken of regarding the relationship between the powers of the bijuu and the Sharingan…

"I won't let you die…"

Would it work? It was a risk, but he had to try. Feeling Toriya's life force gradually draining away like sand slipping through his helpless fingers, he closed his eyes to concentrate.

_Work one more time for me, Sharingan!_ Itachi urged his kekkai genkai, ignoring the stab of pain that accompanied the activation of his eyes' powers.

When he opened his eyes, he managed to discern that he was now sitting inside of a shadowy cavern. Immediately he sensed the cave was on the verge of crumbling. Stalactites shivered like silver chandeliers and threatened to pierce the stone ground as little bits of rocks from the ceiling tumbled to their early demise. The entire vicinity was trembling like a hapless animal sensing the end of its life with the approach of a predator.

"**Ahh, an Uchiha**," a voice sneered, the sound waves echoing throughout the chamber.

Itachi turned slowly towards the source of the voice and the sizzling chakra he had felt before the last time he was in an Akatsuki hideout. Even in the dim lighting, he could make out a pair of sharp golden orbs residing within the mass of dark chakra.

"Rokubi," he acknowledged the giant hawk demon.

"**To what may I offer my gratitude for deserving the audience of a member of a prestigious clan?**" the rokubi continued in its derisive tone.

"You should already know," Itachi said coldly. "I'm here to save Toriya."

"**Hm. You mean this host of mine?**"

The rokubi held out its talons from behind its seal and pointed at the ground, where Toriya lied unconscious, covered with an oozing layer of sludge.

"Saving her would also mean saving your own life, foolish bird."

"**Yes, I suppose that's correct…**" the hawk mused, grazing the lower part of its beak with its talon in mock contemplation. "**But if you reached the girl's subconsciousness with your Sharingan, you should understand the price of stabilizing our chakra system.**"

"I do," Itachi replied evenly. "Take all my Sharingan powers. I have no more use of them."

The Uchiha knew that, with his blind eyes, he could no longer fully utilize his kekkai genkai. Instead of despairing over his sight, he decided to redirect the chakra to something useful: blending the energy with the powers of the rokubi to cleanse Toriya of the toxins. After all, he had to thank her somehow… and losing her would be such a tragic blow to him.

"**Ah, what sacrifice**," the demon sighed. "**You humans really amuse me.**"

His beak curved into a grin.

"**Very well, I accept your proposition.**"

The rokubi raised its wings and surged forth a wave of golden chakra. Itachi in turn made a single hand seal to release his Sharingan powers. Shimmering and spiraling into a vortex of red and yellow, the combined chakras merged together and rippled… pulsed… glowed… until the entire chamber was infused with the bright light—

"Itachi?"

He blinked. Toriya's bruised, confused, but healthy face materialized vividly in front of him.

"You can see," she breathed, staring at how Itachi's eyes were clearly focused on her.

Indeed, the darkness that had slowly crept into his vision was now completely gone. He now realized with a start that giving up his kekkai genkai must have meant the consequences of overusing his Sharingan also disappeared.

"What happened?" Toriya continued in a daze. "I feel… so alive."

"I combined my Sharingan with the rokubi to save your life," Itachi answered succinctly. "And now that I no longer have my Sharingan, I am no longer blind."

"But Itachi! Your Sharingan…!"

"No matter. I only care that you're still of this world."

"You would do this… for me…"

"Hn."

Deeply moved, Toriya smiled and embraced the Uchiha, who was doing quite well in masking his embarrassment.

"Thank you for all that you've done for me," she whispered.

They remained in the embrace, enjoying each other's warmth. The two of them had come far, Toriya realized, from being enemies to what they were now.

"Toriya…" Itachi began hesitantly after a while. "Would you… like to be by my side?"

"Huh? As in being lovers?" Toriya said half-jokingly.

Itachi scowled, unable to hide the pink that tinged his face this time.

"As travel companions," he clarified, though not bothering to correct her.

Toriya took note of it and smiled.

"Sure, sounds like fun."

She then turned to Sasuke's still-unconscious body.

"But before that, we should drop off Sasuke at a clinic," the kunoichi suggested.

"Hn."

The glow of the setting sun, which had just slipped from behind a cloud, caught their attention. Itachi quietly appreciated the beauty of the heavens with his newfound sight, and Toriya's breath stopped momentarily as she admired how gorgeous the sky was.

A sunset the color of rubies. A beautiful scarlet sky.

Toriya shifted her gaze toward Itachi.

"I'll always be there for you."

He took his softened eyes off the rosy horizon and looked right into her eyes, warm brown eyes that were full of love and joy and that would always remain so.

"As will I."

And they set off to begin their new lives together.

**FIN**

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**GLOSSARY**:

**Doton: Doroku Gaeshi** – Earth Release: Earth Shore Return

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**A/N**: Um. So I thought I should FINALLY finish this story after I disappeared into the Infamous Black Hole of Procrastination and Apparent Lack of Motivation. FLUFFY ENDING FTW. -bows deeply- Much gratitude to whoever still follows this story.

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_Naruto _(c) Kishimoto, even in light of all the wacky events that have taken place.


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